SUWANEE – Suwanee police are investigating a deadly shooting on Friday morning, but the intended target of the shooting wasn’t the person who died.
Duluth and Suwanee police responded to the Baxley Village Trail home off of Buford Highway NE minutes after the shooting at 2:30 a.m. Police say a neighbor opened fire during a targeted drive-by.
The mother, who was identified as 45-year-old Nicole Winds-Clemons, was rushed to Northside Gwinnett Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
The suspect, who has been identified as 23-year-old Christian Marcus Ware Lessington, lived in the same neighborhood, according to police.
Police say Lessington fired multiple shots from a car into Winds-Clemons’s home while also striking a neighboring home.
“When I heard the shots, I immediately ducked down,” said a neighbor who had stray bullets hit his home.
He felt relief that no one in his family was hurt, but also sadness that his neighbor was dead.
“That’s really devastating because that’s someone that we knew,” he said.
As Lessington was driving away from the scene, police say he crashed into a Dodge Charger, rupturing his own tire. He was then forced to get into another car to continue trying to drive away.
Because officers responded so quickly, Lessington was stopped and arrested as he tried to leave the neighborhood. He has been charged with Aggravated Assault.
Police haven’t commented on why the man was being targeted.
Neighbors describe the victim’s son as a “good kid” and are in shock at the senseless tragedy.
“This could be avoided, whatever the case may be,” the neighbor said. Police say this is the first homicide in the City of Suwanee in the last two years.
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