Family grieving Lovejoy High student after 3 teens arrested in shooting

It’s been a gut-wrenching two weeks since Zion was killed near a clubhouse in a Clayton County neighborhood, she said during a Wednesday interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at her daughter’s home.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even think about the arrest or who was going to be arrested or nothing like that. ... that’s not going to bring back Zion to me,” Yvonne said.

The witness told police they were in the area because Sutton had driven them there after a party was shut down in Henry County, saying “it was on the way home,” according to the report. Yvonne confirmed her home, where Zion lived, is not far from where it all happened.

The witness also told the officer he believed Ugochukwu was the suspected shooter, stating “it was because (Ugochukwu) does not get along with” the witness and his friends, according to the report.

Ugochukwu told police during an interview he heard several gunshots from in front of his residence, saw three men he did not recognize running toward the clubhouse and observed a black coupe driving away, according to the report. He and his family member told police they didn’t shoot any weapons.

Yvonne said she knew who Zion was with that night and had his location on her phone. The AJC is not identifying the two friends Zion was with since they are not facing charges.

“These are friends that he kind of grew up with. They’ve been friends for a long time. I knew them. I knew their mom,” Yvonne said. She was also familiar with Sutton and Mann and had seen Ugochukwu around the area.

When Zion was shot, Yvonne said he was out past his 9 p.m. curfew. She said she was about to call him around 10:30 p.m. when she learned about the shooting. She said Sutton stopped by her home, told Zion’s older brother what happened and then ran out of the house in a panic.

Police wrote in the report they believe Zion may have been “caught in the crossfire.”

At Piedmont Henry Hospital, Yvonne’s daughter, Deshaun Barrett, was the first to arrive. When she wasn’t led to Zion’s room, she said she knew it must be serious.

For what seemed like a lifetime, Deshaun said family members waited for updates. Then a doctor told them what they had been dreading. Deshaun said she doesn’t remember much after learning Zion was dead. She said she passed out and woke up confused in a hospital room with an IV.

For Yvonne, the loss is profound.

She adopted Zion in 2019 but has raised him since birth, along with three of his siblings. She said she took a newborn Zion home from the hospital, gave him his first bottle and, as he grew up, kept after him about his grades. He was a sophomore at Lovejoy High School.

Mann is the only suspect facing a single charge of murder. Sutton faces an additional charge of aggravated assault, while Ugochukwu is charged with two counts of murder, four counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony, jail records reveal.