‘All too late’: Shooting survivor speaks on murder suspect’s arrest
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - On Monday, we broke the news about a murder suspect’s criminal past, along with disturbing details about the murder of a local mother over the weekend.
Investigators say the suspect is 26-year-old Davante Parks.
The deadly shooting happened Saturday on Hines Street, taking the life of 27-year-old Laquana Lang.
But we found a similar case back in 2016 where a woman barely lived after she was shot six times by the same suspect.
Now, she’s questioning if her testimony could have prevented his release.
“Maybe if I would have spoken out, maybe if I would’ve kept up with it, this wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t have been out,” said Brittney McKie.
McKie says she hasn’t heard the name Davante Parks since 2018, just before he was sentenced to 25 years for shooting her.
She says time stopped when she saw he had been arrested again. This time for murder and she was never notified he was out on parole.
He was paroled after being sentenced in 2018 to 12 years of confinement followed by eight years of probation for the aggravated assault charge and five years of probation for the weapon charge, consecutive to the sentence for the other charge.
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It’s a name she was hoping she would never hear again.
“I’m doing good for myself and I’m actually trying. It’s a slap in my face because of the things I had to go through. But y’all let somebody like that go, and I can’t catch a break,” she said.
McKie was even angrier when she learned it happened while he was out early on parole.
“I did not know he was out. Nobody ed me,” said McKie.
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It’s confusing, because she had a victim’s advocate case worker here on the local level.
“I ed the DA and they basically told me I was supposed to keep up with it. They apologized for nobody ing me, but pretty much it was up to me to keep up with him being released,” said McKie.
What she didn’t have was an advocate on the state level. She says no one told her she needed one.
“I’m thinking I was protected in the hands of the state, and they were supposed to let me know,” she said.
But the state says the only way they can let you know is if you’ve enrolled in their Victim’s Information Program, or VIP.
HOW VIP PROGRAM WORKS:
- The local District Attorney’s Office can only help you until a criminal is sentenced. After that, you enroll in the VIP Program. They keep you in the loop about where the prisoner is serving time, the parole status and the release date.
But McKie says in this case, it’s all too late.
We spoke with Augusta District Attorney Jared Williams who says this is a nightmare scenario for our entire community.
If we want to avoid this outcome, it’s all about making prisons stricter, staying up to date with victims and making sure your voice is heard.
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He and the Georgia Department of Pardons and Parole say to make sure you are doing that both on the local and state level.
It’s important to make sure that you keep your information up to date with his office and the parole board.
The board is also considering a pilot program where they keep you up to date without having to .
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