GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County teen will spend life in prison for murdering two other teens last summer in a Snellville park.
Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson was at the courthouse when the 16-year-old’s conviction came down.
It was a grueling trial for the victims’ families to sit through in court.
The mother of 17-year-old John Pendrak told Channel 2 Action News the thought of a 16-year-old double murderer is still tough to understand.
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“I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around that,” Donna Jones said. “It was unbelieve to me, how somebody so young could have so much hate.”
Pendrack and his best friend 19-year-old Aiden Reynolds both died last July at a park on Lake Drive in Snellville.
On Monday a jury convicted 16-year-old Le’Quan Dempsey for both murders.
Prosecutors said Dempsey reached out to the two friends to buy marijuana but ended up shooting them a combined 14 times in the back.
Jones said her son had just started a job changing the oil in cars and was proud of his work.
“We just try to remember what we do have and remember the good things about John,” she said.
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District Attorney Patsy Austin Gatson said her team tried the convicted shooter as an adult and they worked hard to secure a conviction.
“When somebody crosses the line, and there’s a life lost, then we have to do our job,” Gatson told Channel 2 Action News.
She believes too many young people are falling victim to gun violence.
“We don’t need that, we need them to be doing more positive things, they have their whole life ahead of them,” said Gaston.
The 16-year-old convicted killer will serve life without the possibility of parole.
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