Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole for 2024 Valentine’s Day Murder in Stonecrest

DECATUR, Ga. — A DeKalb County jury has convicted 46-year-old Javoka Shumaker of Ellenwood in a deadly shooting that left one man dead and a woman critically injured outside an apartment complex in Stonecrest on Valentine’s Day 2024.

On Thursday, July 31, 2025, the jury found Shumaker guilty on multiple charges, including Malice Murder, two counts of Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder, Aggravated Assault-Family Violence, Cruelty to Children in the First Degree, and three separate firearm possession offenses.

During sentencing on August 7, 2025, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams imposed a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, plus 90 additional years to be served consecutively.

The charges stem from a February 14, 2024 incident at an apartment complex on Embarcadero Road in Stonecrest. DeKalb County Police officers arrived to find two adults with gunshot wounds lying outside the building. Paul Wilson, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene. A 28-year-old woman, later identified as Shumaker’s ex-girlfriend, was found critically injured with gunshot wounds to her leg and chest.

The woman told officers that Shumaker, her former boyfriend, was the shooter. She explained that they had broken up a month prior to the shooting, but Shumaker refused to move out and continued to come and go from her apartment despite her efforts to keep him out, including changing the locks.

The night before the shooting, Wilson—a close friend of the woman—had stayed over at the apartment. According to her statement, Shumaker arrived later that night and was unaware of Wilson’s presence.

At approximately 5:30 a.m. the following morning, the woman and Wilson were loading belongings and her child into a co-worker’s car for a ride to work and school. Shumaker followed them outside, began arguing with his ex-girlfriend, and pistol-whipped her to the ground.

Surveillance video captured Shumaker pointing a handgun at Wilson, who attempted to flee but collapsed. As the woman tried to reach the co-worker’s vehicle to join her child, Shumaker shot her before she could get inside. He then left the scene on a motorcycle. The co-worker drove away during the shooting, ensuring both she and the child were unharmed.

Records indicate police had previously responded to domestic disturbance calls at the apartment involving Shumaker and the woman, though no arrests were made at the time. Shumaker also had a prior domestic violence conviction involving a different victim in Gwinnett County.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Tarver of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, with assistance from Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicole Finnie and Investigator Jose Berrones. Detective C. Heavner of the DeKalb County Police Department led the initial investigation.