Macon Man Sentenced to Life for Fatally Shooting 21-Year-Old Family Friend Inside Home

MACON, Ga. – A 33-year-old Macon man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in the 2023 shooting death of a 21-year-old family friend inside a home on Log Cabin Drive.

Torey Antwan Burnette, 33, pleaded guilty Aug. 12 in Bibb County Superior Court to malice murder in the death of Zyshown Treortic Dunn, 21, according to the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

Burnette was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The fatal shooting occurred April 2, 2023, inside a home that had belonged to Burnette’s late grandmother. Burnette lived at the residence with relatives.

According to prosecutors, Burnette had become increasingly angry because he believed other people living at the house owed him money and were using drugs inside the residence.

Prosecutors Say Burnette Fired Three Shots

On the morning of the killing, Burnette confronted Dunn, who was a friend of Burnette’s cousin, in an upstairs hallway and ordered him to leave the house.

When Dunn refused, prosecutors said Burnette went to his bedroom, retrieved a 9mm handgun and returned.

Burnette then fired three shots, striking Dunn in the torso and face.

Dunn was found on the bathroom floor still holding his cellphone.

Bibb County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the residence and arrested Burnette at the scene. Authorities said Burnette surrendered the firearm to deputies.

Burnette later confessed to investigators and provided a detailed account of the confrontation and shooting, according to prosecutors.

Assistant Deputy Chief District Attorney Jeremy Johnson presented the plea to the court.

“Torey Burnette took Zyshown Dunn’s life over a dispute that never should have ended in gunfire,” Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard said.

Howard said Burnette took responsibility for the killing by pleading guilty and expressed hope that the resolution would provide Dunn’s family and loved ones with “closure and a measure of justice.”