Z’ayre Daugherty: Georgia Father Sentenced After He Left a Loaded Gun in Car, Leading to Son’s Death

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A Georgia father has been sentenced to prison after a tragic incident in 2023 where his 7-year-old son was shot and killed inside a parked car. 

According to Law&Crime, the child died after his father left him and his younger brother alone in the vehicle with an unsecured gun.

Dante Lamar Daugherty 


On September 4, 2023, the local police department in DeKalb County responded to a distress call around 6:10 p.m. 

The caller reported that a child had been shot at a Texaco gas station on Rock Chapel Road in Lithonia, about 20 miles east of Atlanta.

When first responders arrived, they found  7-year-old Z’ayre Daugherty, with a gunshot wound to the head, and tragically, he was pronounced dead at the scene. 

His younger brother, who was only 5 at the time, had also been in the car.

When questioned by investigators, their father, Dante Lamar Daugherty explained that he first went into the gas station with his two sons to buy a lottery ticket. But after he noticed that one of them was missing a shoe, he took both boys back to the car. 

He said he then took his handgun from his waistband, wrapped it in a cloth, and placed it under the driver’s seat before heading back into the store. 

A few minutes later, he noticed the passenger door was open. When he returned to check, he found his son with a gunshot wound and immediately called 911, as per Law&Crime. 

During the investigation, surveillance footage which was reviewed by investigators showed the boys getting back into the car while their father, Dante Lamar Daugherty, went into the store. 

Not long after, a flash of gunfire was caught on camera, followed by the younger child rushing out of the car in panic.

It's still unclear if Z’ayre had shot himself or had been shot by his brother.

According to authorities, the younger sibling was too shaken to say what had happened and the surveillance footage didn't show the exact thing that went down either. 

A clerk working inside the store that evening told WSB-TV that Daugherty was a “regular” customer who had stopped in to play the lottery. 

Local residents were horrified by the news. “It’s ridiculous that a child had to lose his life like this for a father to learn a hard lesson,” one neighbor said.

Father and Sons Heading back into the car 


On Thursday, September 19, 2025, Judge Courtney L. Johnson of the DeKalb County Superior Court sentenced Daugherty to two years in prison followed by eight years of probation.

He had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree cruelty to children in connection with the case. 

Prosecutors had pushed for a five-year prison term, but the court settled on two years of incarceration as part of a non-negotiated plea. District Attorney Sherry Boston said the case was a painful reminder of how quickly tragedy can strike when firearms are not properly secured around children.

Court records also revealed that this was not Daugherty’s first run-in with the law. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to battery against a family member and disorderly conduct, serving 24 months of probation. In 2007, he also faced a misdemeanor charge of loitering for drugs, which resulted in six months of probation.

As one resident put it, “This is something that never should have happened. A little boy should still be alive today.”

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