A man who was hired to kill the co-owner of a Gwinnett County car dealership by her former partner was sentenced to prison Friday, officials said.
Wesley Vickers, 24, was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the 2022 shooting death of Courtney Owens, Gwinnett District Attorney’s Office spokesman Marcus Garner said. Vickers was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus five years.
“We grieve with the family of Ms. Owens,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “This was a violent incident in our community, and we are charged with bringing the people who did this to justice.”
On Dec. 9, 2022, 34-year-old Owens went to Royal Court Motors, which she co-owned with her former boyfriend, around 2:30 p.m. She expected to meet Stoney Lamar Williams to end their business partnership, Garner confirmed.
Instead, Vickers met her at the dealership located in the 3400 block of Centerville Highway and they went into a back room inside the business, Garner said. At some point, authorities said Vickers told Owens to get on the ground and he shot her in the head.
A witness reported seeing a masked man with a gun leaving the scene, police said soon after the shooting.
Vickers was arrested about a month later and confessed that Williams paid him $20,000 to kill Owens, according to Garner.
Williams was arrested in April 2023 in Harris County, Texas. He remains in custody at the Gwinnett jail on charges of murder and aggravated assault. His trial is expected to begin in March.
