A man was convicted Monday in a 2019 armed robbery that left a person dead in DeKalb County, officials said.
A jury found Joshua Cortez Ellis, 25, of Stockbridge, guilty of three counts of felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer in the death of 28-year-old Ronald Peters.
Charges are still pending against two others, Tyreese Johnson and Shaleeya Moore, both 23, according to the DeKalb district attorney’s office.
The homicide made national headlines after police classified it as “hate-motivated.” Officials said in the days following the June 4, 2019, incident that one of the gunmen used an anti-gay slur before robbing and killing the victim.
“When this crime occurred, there were reports that one of the suspects used a homophobic slur,” a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said. “That detail and the case as a whole were fully investigated. Georgia’s hate crimes law, which provides for sentencing enhancements, was passed and signed into law in 2020, a year after the murder. Therefore, that is not an element that could be considered in this case.”
On the morning of the deadly encounter, Peters was walking near his home in unincorporated Decatur when two men snuck up on him. The two, identified by investigators as Ellis and Johnson, got out of a maroon Chevy pickup and robbed him, authorities said.
Police learned through the course of the investigation that Peters was ordered to hand over his backpack, and when he refused, Ellis shot him. After Peters collapsed, officials said Ellis grabbed the backpack and fired at the victim again. Witnesses reported hearing another shot as Moore drove the men away from the scene, prosecutors said.
When DeKalb police officers arrived, Peters had been shot in the neck, arm and torso. He was taken to Atlanta Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.
Peters’ phone was left behind and bank notifications tipped off officers about the suspects’ location, which included a gas station and Walmart in Lithonia, according to authorities. Surveillance footage also placed the maroon truck at the gas station where Ellis made a purchase with Peters’ debit card, and the Walmart where all three suspects could be seen exiting the truck and walking inside the store.
The pickup, which was reported stolen out of Clayton County, was recovered in Atlanta a few days after the shooting.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office / Clayton County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office / Clayton County Sheriff's Office
Ellis was already in the Clayton jail when he was charged in Peters’ death. According to the Clayton sheriff’s office, Ellis was arrested June 6, 2019, by deputies after robbing and pistol-whipping a man on May 5 of that year. He was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 15 years, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
After Ellis was charged with Peters’ death, he admitted to being in the maroon truck and using the victim’s card. Johnson told investigators that the plan was to only rob Peters, but that Ellis shot the victim before he was able to go around the truck, the district attorney’s office said.
Moore testified that Ellis and Johnson got out of the truck with guns and masks, and officials added that she admitted to driving the truck away from the scene.
Ellis, who has been serving time since October 2021 at the Coffee Correctional Facility for the Clayton robbery, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6 in the DeKalb shooting.
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