A Georgia man has been sentenced to two years in prison after his 7-year-old son was fatally shot in a tragic incident involving an unsecured firearm left in a vehicle with the man’s two young children. Dante Lamar Daugherty, 44, was handed the sentence by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson, following the 2023 death of his son, Z’ayre Daugherty.
Daugherty pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree cruelty to children in a non-negotiated agreement with prosecutors, according to District Attorney Sherry Boston. Following his prison term, Daugherty will be required to serve an additional eight years of probation. Prosecutors had initially sought a five-year custodial sentence, followed by five years of probation.
The incident occurred when DeKalb County Police Department officers responded to a call about a child being shot at a Texaco gas station in Lithonia, approximately 20 miles east of Atlanta. Upon arrival, first responders discovered Daugherty in the back seat of an SUV, cradling his son who had sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency medical personnel arrived shortly after and pronounced Z’ayre dead at the scene.
Police recovered Daugherty’s firearm and a shell casing from inside the vehicle. Daugherty and his 5-year-old son, who was also present during the shooting, were taken to DKPD Headquarters where Daugherty provided a statement. He explained that he had left his sons in the car after noticing that Z’ayre was missing a shoe and sock. He had removed his gun from his waistband, wrapped it in a cloth, and placed it under the driver’s seat before entering the gas station.
Surveillance footage from the gas station corroborated Daugherty’s account, showing the children entering the back seat of the car before a flash of gunfire was visible. The footage also showed the 5-year-old child opening the passenger-side back door and running from the car towards a busy intersection.
Daugherty, who was a regular customer at the gas station, had stopped in to play the lottery before the incident, according to a clerk who spoke to a local ABC affiliate. Daugherty’s criminal record includes a 2015 guilty plea to charges of battery against a family member and disorderly conduct, for which he was sentenced to 24 months of probation. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of loitering for drugs and was given six months’ probation.