A domestic disturbance at a Buckhead apartment complex between a woman and her boyfriend appeared to be resolved.
Officers had already allowed the man to leave the area with his father, whom he had called for help. Moments later, while police were still on the scene, several gunshots rang out.
What police found next was staggering.
The man’s father was holding a pistol while his 32-year-old son lay dead near the complex’s parking lot, officials said.
The father, Durante Rowe-Tolliver, is now charged with murder. The 54-year-old told police he fired approximately 12 times, arrest warrants detail.
The incident unfolded overnight Thursday at an apartment complex at the end of Pharr Road off Peachtree Road, a typically quiet stretch near other residential buildings. Officers were called to 55 Pharr around 12:30 a.m. regarding a domestic situation. There, they met with the female lease holder, her boyfriend and his father.
She told law enforcement that she simply wanted her boyfriend of three months, Durante Schofield, out of her home. According to warrants, the unit’s living room was damaged, but the woman declined to press charges, telling officers she and Schofield had not gotten physical.
Police said Schofield asked to leave and was “allowed” to do so with his father, the warrants state. Moments later, law enforcement described hearing several gunshots outside.
Schofield was located unresponsive on the ground with several wounds and Rowe-Tolliver had a pistol in his hand, the warrants state. He was taken into custody after dropping the weapon.
In addition to murder, Rowe-Tolliver was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
He told police he was trying to leave with his son in his Jeep Wrangler when Schofield slammed the door. He said he then requested Schofield get out to calm down. According to the warrants, he said Schofield “pushed off of him” and then reached into his waistband.
Believing “Schofield was about to produce a firearm,” Rowe-Tolliver said he “instead pulled his firearm and shot approximately 12 times,” according to the warrants.
Police said Schofield did not have a gun. It’s not clear how many times he was struck.
Schofield’s girlfriend, who was taken to police headquarters, said it all started when Schofield asked for her help. She recounted finding him asleep in a Jeep Compass wrecked into the side of a building about two miles south on a street off Peachtree Road, the warrants state. After pulling him out of the car, she told police she anonymously reported the crash and drove Schofield to her apartment.
She said he then became “belligerent and irate and began to get into a verbal dispute with her,” the warrants read. She told officials she went to the balcony at some point, saw her boyfriend’s father and asked him to come inside. Rowe-Tolliver had driven from Conyers after his son told him he was involved in the crash.
Both Rowe-Tolliver and the woman told police that Schofield became upset when his father arrived. The warrants state they eventually got into a fight, and Rowe-Tolliver told police he struck his son twice in the face, before pinning him down. He added that his firearm also fell out during that struggle.
It was only when police arrived that Rowe-Tolliver and the woman said things appeared to have calmed down. That is, until the two men stepped outside.
Rowe-Tolliver was booked into the Fulton County Jail. He was denied bond during a hearing Friday.
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