DeKalb Jury Convicts Man Who Shot Pregnant Girlfriend and Left Her in Park

DECATUR, Ga. — A DeKalb County jury convicted a 27-year-old man of attempting to kill his pregnant girlfriend after prosecutors said he shot her in the head and abandoned her near a walking trail in a Decatur park.

DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office District Attorney Sherry Boston announced that a jury found Donald Wooten guilty on April 20, 2026, of Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder, Criminal Attempt to Commit Feticide, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.

During a sentencing hearing on May 13, 2026, Tangela Barrie sentenced Wooten to 60 years in prison.

According to investigators, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded around 7 a.m. on March 4, 2023, to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive woman near the walking trail at Chapel Hill Park in unincorporated Decatur.

Emergency responders found the visibly pregnant 25-year-old victim lying near the trail with a gunshot wound behind her left ear. Authorities said she was awake but unable to communicate and was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she was placed into a medically induced coma.

Investigators said family members identified the victim’s boyfriend, Donald Wooten, as a possible suspect.

Authorities later determined the victim and Wooten had gone to a movie together the night before the shooting. Wooten initially told police the couple returned to their apartment complex before he traveled to a second apartment in Atlanta.

Prosecutors said Wooten later changed his story, claiming the victim drove him to a friend’s home in Ellenwood after the movie. However, investigators found cellphone location data that contradicted his account, and the alleged friend denied knowing Wooten.

Two months after the shooting, detectives interviewed the victim at the hospital. She recalled going to the movies with Wooten and later walking with him at Chapel Hill Park before losing memory of the incident.

Investigators also uncovered jail calls in which Wooten asked a relative to remotely wipe his cellphone after police seized it as evidence. Authorities obtained data from the device before it was erased.

According to prosecutors, messages recovered from the phone showed the couple arguing about the pregnancy and their future together. Investigators also found messages in which Wooten allegedly asked someone to retrieve a firearm and ammunition from his apartment and instruct others to provide him with an alibi.

The victim later gave birth prematurely, and the child survived.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Tarver with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Allison Layton. Detective P. Wright with the DeKalb County Police Department led the investigation.