DeKalb County

Military vet ambushed, killed by masked men inside his garage

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Police are searching for three men who shot and killed a disabled Marine veteran.

Channel 2's Tom Regan was at the scene on Mountain Oaks Parkway on Friday morning as police investigated the deadly ambush.

Police told Regan that Phillip Lamar Davis, 47, was getting ready to take his wife to work around 6 a.m. Friday when he opened the garage door and three masked men came from the side and ambushed them.

Police believe the men’s intent was a home invasion.

When they confronted the couple, police say Davis tried to protect his wife and push them away, sparking a struggle, during which Davis was shot. His wife took off and ran to a neighbor’s house to call for help.

"She was just screaming, ‘There's gunshots, there's gunshots. Get here right now,’” the wife’s sister, Daphne Sinclair, said. “She heard the gunshots and she ran to a neighbor’s house saying, ‘Call 911.’”

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The home invaders took off empty-handed.

Police brought in K-9 units to help search for the suspects.

“We are trying to track scents of the suspects to see which directions they may have gone, that's why the area is taped off,” said DeKalb County Police spokesperson Shiera Campbell.

Family members said the couple were high school sweethearts and married a little over a year ago.

“Like they say, you never think it’s going to happen to your family, but it did,” the wife’s father, Lorenzo Sinclair, told Regan.

Sinclair said they want to see the men behind this attack brought to justice.