Group of laughing teens triggered man who shot and paralyzed victim in Elk Grove, DA says
A Sacramento County jury convicted a man for shooting a 15-year-old boy, paralyzing the victim, after the defendant was laughed at by a group of teenagers walking out of an Elk Grove grocery store, prosecutors said.
The jury on Wednesday found Davonntay Jones-Carnes, 24, of Elk Grove guilty of attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic gun, carrying a concealed stolen gun in a vehicle and vehicle theft, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a news release.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5 a.m. Dec. 28, 2018, in the parking lot of a WinCo Foods grocery store on Sheldon Road.
The victim and four other teenagers had gone to the store. Several minutes later, Jones-Carnes arrived at the WinCo driving a stolen car with his underage friend, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Jones-Carnes dropped some coins he was carrying as he was walking out of the store. The victim and his friends, who also were walking out of the store, saw Jones-Carnes picking up the coins.
Prosecutors said some teenagers in the victim’s group laughed as they left the store and continued walking to their vehicle. Jones-Carnes then got into the stolen car and drove up to the car with the teenagers.
Jones-Carnes got out of the car and fired a stolen semi-automatic gun six times at the 15-year-old, with two bullets striking the victim’s back, according to the District Attorney’s Office. One of the bullets damaged his vertebrae and spine, causing permanent paralysis to his lower extremities.
Investigators recovered the stolen gun used in the shooting, prosecutors said. A few days after the shooting, Jones-Carnes and a 17-year-old Sacramento boy were arrested in connection with the Elk Grove shooting.
The Sacramento teen turned himself in at the Elk Grove Police Department two days after the shooting and later was booked at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall. It’s unclear whether he was prosecuted; authorities never released his name because he was a minor. Three days after the shooting, police arrested Jones-Carnes in the La Riviera Drive area of Sacramento.
Jones-Carnes is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3 and faces a maximum sentence of 33 years and 4 months to life in prison, prosecutors said. He remained in custody Thursday afternoon at the Sacramento County Jail.
As part of his conviction, the charges against Jones-Carnes included enhancements for using a gun causing great bodily injury and causing great bodily injury resulting in permanent paralysis. Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Macy prosecuted the case.
