He was tall and had an old soul for being only 13. Sometimes, Deshon DuBose’s friends even called him grandpa.
But in January 2023, Deshon was just being a teenager, hanging out with friends at the Cascade Family Skating rink. As he was leaving, he was caught up in gunfire between two groups and shot to death, according to police.
Deshon, who attended Drew Charter School, had dreams of playing basketball and becoming a pastor. Those were shattered in an instant.
On Monday, the teenager accused of killing Deshon pleaded guilty, his family’s attorney said. Chiurazzi Bailey Jr., now 18, was previously indicted for felony murder. He avoided a trial by pleading to lesser charges, including second-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to children, discharge of a firearm near a highway, possession of a firearm by a person under 18 and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to attorney Jessica Seares.
Bailey was sentenced to 15 years, with four to serve in prison.
“It does feel like there is some closure,” Seares, the DuBose family’s attorney, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But there are other shooters out there, and the family still has a lot of questions and they’re still wondering if anyone else should be held accountable. Deshon’s death was a terrible loss to the family and the entire Drew community.”
Bailey was the only suspect publicly identified and charged. He said he only fired a “warning shot” into the air before others fired additional shots.
Officers were called to the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive skating rink around 11:30 p.m. Jan. 21, 2023, and found Deshon with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died.
Charlet DuBose said she struggles with losing her son. She had allowed him to attend “teen night” at the rink.
“I forgive him, but I have to move on,” Dubose said Monday after Bailey’s sentencing.
Just 16 at the time, Bailey was arrested in March 2023 and held at a youth detention center, although he was charged as an adult. Then in June of that year, a grand jury indicted him on eight counts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children, court records show. Bailey was eventually moved to the Fulton County Jail.
Deshon was especially close with his grandfather, who was in court Monday.
“He was only 13 for two months,” Charles DuBose told the AJC months after Deshon’s death. “People that knew us knew that we were inseparable. Every day I deal with the loss of Deshon. I get up in the morning thinking about him. I think about him during the day and go to bed thinking about him. I’m just heartbroken still. He was my buddy.”
As a single mother, Charlet DuBose said her family helped her raise Deshon. Now, she’s forced to visit a headstone.
“I forgive you, but it was not called for you to shoot that shot in the air,” she said of Bailey. “You chose to do it.”
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