Man Gets Life Sentence Plus 30 Years For Atlanta Murder Spree

ATLANTA, Ga. - Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly Lee Ellerbe sentenced Javon Fortune to a life sentence plus 30 years on Wednesday for his role in three shootings that led to the deaths of two victims, Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announced in a statement.

Prior to the trial’s start, Fortune had pled guilty to charges of murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Reginald Phillips became the first victim on July 20, 2015 when Fortune shot him in the head with a .22 handgun, court records say. Phillips, 23, died the following day.

Fortune’s reign of terror continued when he shot his two other victims just two days later. The unidentified victim was shot in the face, but survived. As Atlanta police investigated the crime later that night, a second “shots fired” call was reported nearly four miles away. That victim at Collier Drive was also shot in the face and died from his injuries. The shooter had again fled the scene.

As detectives investigated the shooting on Collier Drive, they learned that Fortune met a man at Club Aquarius in Southwest Atlanta to whom he planned to sell two pounds of marijuana. Fortune and that individual traveled to the home on Collier Drive, where Fortune was introduced to a third individual who he later shot in the face before fleeing the scene. Police traveled back to the club and discovered that Fortune had left his identification card.

Fortune was later arrested and phone records placed him at the murder scene and the shooting on Collier Drive. Those same phone records also revealed Fortune was the last person Phillips spoke with on the night of his murder.

GBI ballistics tests confirmed that the same .22 handgun that had been used in all three crimes. The investigation revealed that all the incidents involved illegal drug transactions.

Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Simone Hylton prosecuted this case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Greta Morris and DA Investigator Kletis Sloan.

Detective Darrin Smith and Sergeant Daniel Genson served as the lead investigators.

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