A man previously accused of murder has been sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty last month to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in his childhood friend’s shooting death last year at a troubled northwest Atlanta apartment complex, court documents show.
Allen Pitts, 29, also pleaded guilty Oct. 31 to a gun possession charge, while charges of aggravated assault and public indecency were dropped, according to a final disposition obtained Thursday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pitts was originally booked into the Fulton County Jail on charges of murder, aggravated assault, public indecency and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the Sept. 2, 2023, shooting death of 28-year-old Cordale Duncan, police said.
According to his indictment, Pitts shot Duncan with a handgun, and the public indecency charge was related to him being completely nude that day “in a public space.”
Pitts’ sentence also includes two years of probation, with special conditions requiring him to take random alcohol and drug tests, complete a victim impact course and continue working with the black male initiative, an organization that spreads “the positive narrative about Black men,” according to its website.
The disposition stated he will receive credit for time served while in custody from Sept. 23, 2023, to March 4, 2024. Pitts was 28 years old at the time of the shooting.
Atlanta police were called that day at around 10 a.m. to the troubled Magnolia Park apartment complex on Magnolia Way, located about four miles from Westside Park in the Vine City neighborhood. At the scene, officers found Duncan suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital but later died.
Magnolia Park, which is split into two addresses, is among the 275 complexes identified in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Dangerous Dwellings” investigation that looked into serious crimes, lax maintenance and other hazards in Atlanta neighborhoods. From 2017 through July 2023, police reported 139 crimes there, including homicides in both May and August 2021, and 29 aggravated assaults.
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Within hours after the shooting, Pitts was arrested and booked into the county jail, police said.
He and Duncan grew up playing baseball together and had known each other since they were 4 years old, the victim’s sister, Chartovia Duncan, wrote in a GoFundMe page.
A motive for the shooting is unclear. During the trial, the defense called in an expert on the abuse of drugs to testify, online records show.
“My brother loved to laugh, smile, dance and play video games,” Chartovia Duncan added. “He was very friendly and kind.”
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