Decatur man sentenced to life for deadly 2025 shooting using "ghost gun" at DeKalb apartments

A 27-year-old Decatur man has been sentenced to life in prison for a deadly shooting at a DeKalb County apartment complex.

On Aug. 28, a jury found Azavier Lilly guilty of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, and more for the killing of 28-year-old Rashad Walker.

Prosecutors say DeKalb County police officers were called to an apartment complex on Candler on the night of March 6, 2025, after hearing reports of a person shot. The officers found Walker lying in the breezeway of the complex with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses told investigators that the Walker and his girlfriend had a fight that turned physical and drew a crowd. When the girlfriend went to her friend's apartment to cool off, prosecutors say four men who witnessed the fight attacked Walker. Lilly, identified as one of the four men, opened fire, hitting Walker and killing him, officials said.

According to testimony during the trial by a Georgia Bureau of Investigation technician, the firearm used in the shooting was a "ghost gun," also known as a weapon assembled from components that don't have serial numbers and can't be traced.

Following the guilty verdict, a DeKalb County Superior Court judge sentenced Lilly to life in prison with the possibility of parole.