Decatur man sentenced to life plus 10 years for deadly drive-by shooting

DECATUR, GA— Aqontise Glenn, 33, of Decatur will spend the rest of his life in prison for the fatal drive-by shooting of 36-year-old Christopher Copeland on Sept. 8, 2021.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced the conviction by jury trial involving Glenn, who was

found guilty on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, possession of a Firearm during the Commission of a Felony, and Felony fleeing.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams, who presided over the trial, sentenced Glenn to Life plus 10 years today, Jan. 23.

According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded to a call about a shooting in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Columbia Drive in unincorporated Decatur shortly after 2 p.m.  When they arrived, police found Christopher Copeland, 36, with multiple gunshot wounds.  He had already died of his injuries.  Investigators found 17 shell cases in the parking lot.

Witnesses reported hearing several shots and then seeing a small Nissan speed away from the scene.

A FLOCK camera near the entrance to the apartment complex captured a black Nissan Versa with a Florida license plate leaving the complex around the time of the 911 call.

Around 3:30 p.m., an officer leaving the scene spotted the Nissan and tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver led police on a high-speed chase for more than two miles, at times driving through people’s yards and in the wrong direction on the road to avoid capture.

The driver then pulled down a dead-end street near Wesley Chapel Road. He got out of the car, jumped the fence to another apartment complex and dropped an iPhone.  Investigators were able to obtain a search warrant for the phone and learned it belonged to Defendant Glenn.  Phone data placed Defendant Glenn at the scene at the time of the shooting.

A woman at the apartment complex off Wesley Chapel Road told investigators Defendant Glenn was her nephew and that he had kicked down her door and told her not to turn him in.  She told investigators that she had screamed at him to get out of her house and he ran off.

The U.S. Marshals Service located Glenn in Alabama two weeks later and he was extradited to DeKalb County.

The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Jasmine Jackson with assistance from Senior ADA Eleanor Friedman, DA Investigator Alex Cushenan and Victim Advocate Ikwo Nyong.  DA Investigator Julian Brim led the initial investigation when he was a detective with the DeKalb County Police Department.