DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A man was convicted of murder and other charges this week in the 2019 killing of Ronald "Trey" Peters, in a case in which a witness told 11Alive the gunman had shouted "obscene gay slurs" before killing Peters, a 28-year-old gay man.
The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office announced the conviction of 25-year-old Joshua Ellis on Tuesday. Two other defendants charged in the killing, 23-year-old Tyreese Johnson and 23-year-old Shaleeya Moore, still have pending cases.
Peters was murdered on June 4, 2019, while walking down the street in unincorporated Decatur. The DeKalb DA's Office said two men got out of a pickup truck and demanded his bookbag at gunpoint. When he refused, he was shot in the chest, neck and arm.
A witness later told 11Alive that the gunman used an obscene slur before shooting Peters, shouting: "Give me your bag, f*****."
Peters' case was among those that contributed to the push for a hate crimes law in Georgia, which was ultimately passed after the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
Ellis was not convicted under the hate crime law, and it's not clear he could actually have been charged retroactively under the law. His full conviction included malice murder, three counts of felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felon and possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer. A sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 6.
"We lost one of our own from our community this week," a social media post online from the Atlanta LGBTQ+ community said at the time of Peters' death. "HATE is still alive and well against the LGBTQ community."
Kelly Nelson, who employed Peters at her agency LED Enterprise, said in 2019 he was an actor and singer and that his death "feels like the loss of one of my own children."
Peters was a gay man in an interracial relationship at the time of his death. The day after he was killed, Nelson learned not only did he die in a horrific way, but the shooting was possibly hate-motivated.
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"The driver was standing over him, jerked the bag and yelling obscene and gay slurs at him, and shot him in the chest point blank,” said Kevin Pickering, a neighbor who witnessed the shooting and called 911.
“If I knew what Trey would want, he would want for people to come together,” said Nelson of the push for a hate crimes law after Peters' death. “He was a kind person who opened his heart to everyone. (He wanted) dialogue between people who don’t share the same politics or outlook. He would want this to be a moment to bring everyone together.”
The Georgia hate crimes law was passed and signed in 2020.