Investigators say Eboni Anderson was delivering lunch at Palmetto Elementary when she was shot and the accused gunman fled in her vehicle.
PALMETTO, Ga. — A 34-year-old DoorDash driver was shot to death outside Palmetto Elementary School on Feb. 10, sending the campus into lockdown and setting off a police chase that ended more than 100 miles away with the suspect in custody.
Eboni Anderson was delivering food to the school when investigators say Christopher Loris Ates, 39, got out of the vehicle she had driven to the campus, attacked her and shot her several times. The killing jolted a school community in south Fulton County, forced the relocation of about 550 students and quickly grew from a campus emergency into a murder case that, by March 9, had been sent on for grand jury review. Authorities have said the violence appeared tied to a domestic dispute, but several details, including the exact argument that led to the shooting, have not been fully explained in open court.
Investigators say the encounter unfolded just after 11 a.m. on a Tuesday in front of Palmetto Elementary on Carlton Road. According to court records described by investigators, a black GMC Acadia registered to Anderson pulled up near the front entrance at 11:07 a.m. Anderson got out of the driver’s side and began removing a pink duffel bag and two black backpacks. Authorities say Ates then stepped out of the front passenger seat, approached her, assaulted her and opened fire. Police later said six shell casings were found near Anderson’s body. Principal Jacqueline Bowens told families in a letter that a staff member pressed an emergency alert button when the shooting happened, and the school immediately entered a hard lockdown. Bowens wrote that no students or staff members were involved and that no one inside the building was ever in danger. Students were later moved by bus to Bear Creek Middle School so parents and guardians could pick them up.
Hours after the shooting, investigators traced the suspect’s vehicle to Warner Robins in Middle Georgia, where law enforcement agencies tried to stop it. Authorities said Ates sped away, leading deputies on a pursuit that ended after the vehicle struck a semi-truck, hit a guardrail and went down an embankment. Deputies then found a crying child in the backseat and turned the juvenile over to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office juvenile division after a medical check. In the early stage of the case, Ates was jailed in Houston County on charges including fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving and child endangerment or cruelty to children, depending on the charging language cited by local outlets. When investigators searched bags left at the school, they said they found identification cards and other personal items tied to Ates. Fulton County Schools police later said those items, along with school surveillance video, helped quickly identify him as the suspect.
The case also brought into public view a painful picture of Anderson’s family life and her role as a working mother. Family members told local television stations that Anderson was a mother of three, including 8-year-old twins and an 18-month-old boy. Her stepfather, Tariq Robinson, remembered her as someone who stayed close to her children and, he said, “would do anything for anybody.” DoorDash said in a statement after the killing that it was urgently investigating and working with law enforcement. Fulton County Schools confirmed that Anderson’s children attended schools in the district, though not Palmetto Elementary. Court testimony on March 9 added more context about the relationship between Anderson and Ates. Investigators said the two shared a child together, while family members described him as a man Anderson had dated in the past. An investigator also testified that Anderson had reported a prior incident in which Ates allegedly put a gun to her head, a claim that prosecutors used to argue that the Feb. 10 shooting was part of a broader pattern of violence.
The legal picture changed quickly in the weeks after the shooting. On Feb. 12, Ates was booked into the Fulton County Jail on homicide and gun charges tied to the school shooting. Local reports at that stage listed charges that included felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and carrying a weapon in a school safety zone. In early March, a Fulton County judge denied him bond. Then, at a March 9 preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented school surveillance footage and testimony from Fulton County Schools Police Investigator Carlos Dixon. Dixon told the court Anderson was “shot multiple times,” including in the head. He also suggested that a dispute may have broken out inside the vehicle before Anderson got out, though he said that was speculation. By the end of that hearing, the judge found probable cause on six charges, including malice murder and felony murder, and sent the case forward to a Fulton County grand jury for possible indictment. As of March 15, no trial date had been announced in open reporting.
The killing left two communities dealing with the same shock from different directions: a school trying to reassure families and relatives trying to bury a mother of three. Bowens, the principal, told parents that school leaders followed their training and moved fast to protect children as police swarmed the front of the campus. Fulton County Schools Police Chief Mark Sulborski later said his department worked “around the clock” with partner agencies to get the suspect into custody. At the same time, Anderson’s relatives were speaking publicly about the loss and raising money for funeral costs. Robinson said the family wanted to give her children a place where they could mourn their mother. The images described in court and in warrant records were stark: a lunchtime delivery, bags left on the pavement, shell casings near the school entrance and a getaway that ended in a wreck on a highway far from the campus. Those details turned what began as a school emergency into a closely watched murder prosecution.
As the case stood on March 15, Ates remained in jail without bond and prosecutors had advanced the homicide case to the grand jury stage. The next major step is a decision on indictment in Fulton County, followed by arraignment and future court dates that had not yet been publicly set.
Author note: Last updated March 15, 2026.