Jurors heard how officers found a forced-open door, wounded survivors and evidence throughout a Villa Rica home after Tavarus Joiner was killed.
VILLA RICA, Ga. — The first officers entering a Villa Rica home after reports of gunfire found a kicked-in door, wounded people and a woman screaming from upstairs, beginning an evidence trail that nearly two years later helped convict Karlton Marquavious Sirmons of murder.
The prosecution of Sirmons relied on evidence from several layers of the Nov. 2, 2024, attack: survivors who identified him and later testified, police-worn camera footage from the first response, shell casings and a firearm recovered inside the house, and testimony that reconstructed Sirmons’ movements from the front entrance to the upstairs rooms. A Douglas County jury ultimately convicted him of malice murder, two felony murder counts and numerous additional crimes. Judge Deah B. Warren then sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole plus another 136 years.
Villa Rica police Officer Deborah Williams gave jurors an early view of the case through body-camera footage recorded when officers arrived. She testified that the front door had been forced open and that officers could hear a woman calling from an upstairs window. Inside, they encountered multiple victims and found at least one person hiding in a closet. Tavarus “T-Bone” Joiner, 32, was discovered in the bedroom and died from his wounds. His cousin, Jacquenette Joiner, and his longtime partner, Krisna Chea, had both been shot but survived.
Investigators recovered seven shell casings and a gun from a bathroom sink, according to evidence described during the trial. Police video also recorded a surviving victim identifying Sirmons as the gunman. Those initial observations were significant because Sirmons had already left before officers secured the residence. The footage preserved the condition of the home and statements made during the immediate emergency, while later testimony from the women gave jurors a more detailed account of what occurred before police arrived.
Prosecutors said the attack had begun because Jacquenette was staying at her cousin’s home to get away from Sirmons, her former boyfriend. Tavarus lived at the residence with Chea and their two children. Police said in 2024 that Tavarus had no relationship with Sirmons and had simply provided a relative with a place to stay. Shortly after 6 a.m., Sirmons arrived and kicked in the front door, prosecutors said. He began attacking Jacquenette, drawing Tavarus from elsewhere in the house to investigate the disturbance.
Tavarus was shot in the chest during that first confrontation. Prosecutors said Sirmons then attempted to shoot Jacquenette, but the firearm malfunctioned and she ran upstairs. The sequence brought the attack into the master bedroom, where Tavarus, already injured, ended up on the floor and Chea tried to contact emergency dispatchers. Two young children were also there. Prosecutors said they were beneath bed covers while the violence continued around them.
Sirmons shot Tavarus again in the back and wounded Chea in the leg, according to prosecutors. He took Chea’s phone and disconnected the 911 call. When another attempt to fire at her failed because the gun jammed, prosecutors said, he struck her with the weapon. One of the children then moved toward Jacquenette and was in her arms when Sirmons struck them. The evidence gave jurors not one isolated shooting to consider but a succession of alleged acts affecting several people in different parts of the house.
Jacquenette eventually reached a guest bathroom and tried to barricade herself inside. Prosecutors said Sirmons broke through the lower portion of the bathroom door and shot her eight times. The gunfire ended after his ammunition was exhausted. He then left the scene. Prosecutors said an adult family member with autism was also present in the house, adding another vulnerable occupant to the group exposed to the attack. Jacquenette and Chea were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, recovered from their injuries and later became witnesses in the case.
While the house supplied much of the evidence jurors would later hear about, the investigation quickly extended beyond Villa Rica. Police identified Sirmons and his vehicle, then coordinated with officers in Cobb County. He was taken into custody roughly two hours after the shooting, according to prosecutors. Early reports on the day of the attack said one person had died, two others had been hospitalized and the suspected gunman had been arrested. The detailed account of the attack was developed over the months that followed.
By the time the case went to trial in August 2026, prosecutors could present the emergency response alongside survivor accounts. Williams walked jurors through what officers encountered, while Jacquenette and Chea were able to describe the attack from inside the home. Their testimony was supported by the recorded scene and physical evidence. The jury’s verdict covered malice murder and felony murder along with crimes including aggravated assault, aggravated battery, home invasion, burglary and cruelty to children. Reports on the final judgment also identified an exploitation count involving a disabled adult.
The evidentiary record mattered in part because so many of the events occurred rapidly and in different rooms before officers arrived. The forced entrance showed how the encounter began. Shell casings and the recovered firearm documented gunfire inside. Body-camera video recorded the immediate aftermath and identification of the suspected shooter. The surviving women supplied the sequence that connected those pieces. In a prosecution involving a fatality, serious injuries and young witnesses, the different forms of evidence allowed jurors to examine the case from more than one source.
After the verdict, the courtroom moved from questions of proof to punishment. Warren imposed a life-without-parole sentence and additional prison terms totaling 136 years, according to local reports and police accounts. At the sentencing hearing, Chea spoke about Joiner as a man devoted to his family. Joiner’s relatives expressed relief with the jury’s decision. Warren said the terror inflicted on the household was difficult to comprehend and indicated that Sirmons should receive a sentence ensuring he would remain incarcerated.
Douglas County District Attorney Dalia Racine said the attack devastated the adults and children gathered in the home. She said the verdict could not restore Joiner’s life or erase the harm, but it provided accountability. That distinction is reflected in the legal outcome: the evidence answered the criminal case’s central questions and produced convictions, while the personal consequences extend beyond anything a verdict can resolve.
What remains from the prosecution is a court record built from survivors’ testimony, police body-camera footage, physical evidence and the observations of officers who entered the house after the shooting. Jurors relied on that record to convict Sirmons, and Warren’s sentence converted their findings into permanent imprisonment. The investigation that began with officers responding to a chaotic scene in Villa Rica has therefore reached its judicial endpoint: a murder conviction, additional guilty verdicts involving other occupants and a life-without-parole sentence.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.