A fifth grade teacher is charged with murder in a violent gang-related home invasion that left 2 children dead in Clayton County, Georgia in 2016. Michael De’Sean White, 26, is accused of shooting and killing 11-year-old Tatiyana Coates and her 15-year-old brother Daveon Coates while they slept in their beds on Oct. 22, 2016.
White was taken into custody on Friday at DeKalb’s Toney Elementary where he worked.
He is charged with four counts of murder. Police say a sketch drawn by a police artist helped lead them to White.
A 15-year-old gang member who was not at home at the time of the shooting was the intended target of the home invasion.
The mother of Tatiyana and Daveon invited a single mom with 5 children — including the teenage boy — to move into her Jonesboro, Ga., home from Chattanooga before the shooting.
The other children in the home — ages 6 to 13 — were not injured.
Police tracked the teenager to a home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he fled with his mom and siblings after Tatiyana and Deveon were killed in their Jonesboro, Ga., home. He was questioned but was not charged in the murders.
SEE ALSO: 2 Children Killed During Home Invasion Near Atlanta
Police say the unidentified teen quickly became involved in violent gang activity in Atlanta.
“The 15-year-old who came with the second family got involved in gang activity here in metro Atlanta,” Register said. “We believe there was an act that he committed against a local gang that made them retaliate in such a vicious manner.”
White was hired to work as a teacher’s assistant in March 2017 and became a fifth-grade teacher in August, according to WSB-TV.
White remains in the Clayton County Jail without bail.
