Tavarus Joiner had opened his home to a cousin seeking distance from her former boyfriend before violence reached the family’s doorstep.
VILLA RICA, Ga. — Tavarus Joiner was giving a relative a place to stay when the dispute she was trying to escape followed her to his home, leaving him dead, two women seriously wounded and the man responsible sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
The circumstances that brought Jacquenette Joiner to her cousin’s house became central to the criminal case against her former boyfriend, Karlton Marquavious Sirmons. Prosecutors said Jacquenette had temporarily moved into the Villa Rica home because she wanted distance from Sirmons and his abusive behavior. Tavarus Joiner lived there with his longtime partner, Krisna Chea, and their two young children. In the early hours of Nov. 2, 2024, prosecutors said, Sirmons kicked in the front door while looking for Jacquenette and turned the family’s home into the scene of a fatal attack.
Villa Rica police emphasized that Tavarus Joiner was not involved in the relationship at the center of the dispute. In the first week after the killing, police Capt. Blake Terry said Joiner had no relationship with Sirmons and was simply helping a family member by giving her somewhere to stay. That distinction remained important as the case moved through court: Joiner was at home with his family when the conflict entered his house. Nearly two years later, a Douglas County jury convicted Sirmons of malice murder, two felony murder counts and numerous other offenses, and Superior Court Judge Deah B. Warren sentenced him to life without parole plus 136 years.
The attack began shortly after 6 a.m. Prosecutors said Sirmons forced open the front door and confronted Jacquenette. Tavarus came to see what was happening and was shot in the chest. When Sirmons tried to fire at Jacquenette, the weapon jammed, allowing her to run upstairs. Tavarus, though wounded, also made it toward the master bedroom. What followed involved nearly everyone who had been inside the house, including Chea, the couple’s children and another adult relative.
Chea was attempting to reach 911 when Sirmons entered the bedroom, according to prosecutors. Sirmons shot Tavarus in the back and shot Chea in the leg. He took Chea’s phone, ending the emergency call, and then attempted to fire at her again. Prosecutors said the firearm jammed, and Sirmons struck her with it instead. The children were hiding beneath covers during the violence. One later came out and went into Jacquenette’s arms. Prosecutors said Sirmons struck Jacquenette and the child she was holding with the gun.
The sequence continued when Jacquenette escaped into a guest bathroom and blocked the door. Sirmons broke through the bottom portion of the door and shot her eight times, prosecutors said. Authorities said the gunfire stopped after he ran out of ammunition. He left the house before officers arrived. Tavarus Joiner died from his wounds. Jacquenette and Chea were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with serious injuries but survived. Both ultimately recovered enough to testify at Sirmons’ trial.
The children’s presence made the prosecution about more than the fatal shooting. Local reports on the verdict said jurors convicted Sirmons of multiple counts of cruelty to children in addition to murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges. Prosecutors also said an adult family member with autism was in the home during the attack, and the verdict included an exploitation count. The household contained people who had not been participants in the dispute but were placed in danger after Sirmons entered the residence, a fact reflected in the large number of charges and the additional prison terms imposed after the life sentence.
Responding officers documented the aftermath in video that jurors later saw in court. Villa Rica police Officer Deborah Williams testified that officers arrived to find the front entrance forced open and heard a woman calling from an upstairs window. Inside, police located several victims, including one person hiding in a closet. Investigators recovered seven shell casings as well as a firearm from a bathroom sink. Police-worn camera footage captured one of the survivors identifying Sirmons as the attacker, according to testimony during the trial.
Investigators did not have to search for him for long. Authorities identified Sirmons and the vehicle he had used, and officers from Villa Rica and Cobb County located him in Cobb County about two hours after the shooting, prosecutors said. Contemporary reports described his capture as occurring within several hours of the first call. At the time, the public account was still limited: three adults had been shot, one had died and a suspect had been arrested. The fuller sequence of events emerged later through the investigation, court proceedings and testimony of the survivors.
For Jacquenette and Chea, the trial required a return to the events they had survived. Both testified for the prosecution. Jurors also heard from law enforcement and were shown footage from the first police response. The combination gave jurors a record that included firsthand accounts, physical evidence and video from the immediate aftermath. After deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts on the principal murder charges and a broad set of additional counts tied to the attacks on the other occupants of the house.
The sentencing hearing shifted attention back to the family rather than the mechanics of the crime. Chea addressed the loss of her longtime partner and the father of their children. Relatives said they were relieved by the outcome. Warren, in imposing the sentence, spoke about the severity of terror inflicted on a family because of a rejected relationship. Douglas County District Attorney Dalia Racine said in a statement that Joiner’s death had devastated both adults and children gathered in what should have been a family home and acknowledged that a criminal verdict could not undo that damage.
The case also demonstrates how prosecutors framed the killing as part of a broader attack rather than an isolated confrontation between two men. Tavarus was not alleged to have sought out Sirmons or inserted himself into a dispute elsewhere. The prosecution’s evidence placed him in his own residence, responding after Sirmons entered in search of Jacquenette. Chea was injured while attempting to get help. Their children were inside as the gunfire moved upstairs. Jacquenette was targeted after trying to distance herself from Sirmons. Each of those circumstances became part of the charges the jury considered.
In early reporting, police described the shooting as connected to an ongoing domestic dispute. By sentencing, the court record told a wider story about the people caught around that dispute and the consequences of bringing it into another family’s home. Tavarus Joiner, 32, lost his life. Chea and Jacquenette survived serious injuries. Children witnessed violence against the adults caring for them. A relative seeking temporary safety lost the cousin who had provided it.
For the family that lived through the attack, the verdict cannot return the home to what it was before Nov. 2, 2024. Tavarus Joiner, who police said was giving his cousin a temporary place to stay, was killed there, while Chea and Jacquenette survived serious injuries and later testified in court. The sentencing provides a final criminal judgment against Sirmons, but the case ends with the consequences centered on the relatives whose attempt to provide shelter became the setting for a deadly intrusion.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.