Driver found guilty 8 years after crash that killed grandmother, 2 kids on their way to church

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — The trial of a College Park man accused of killing three people in a crash in 2016 has reached a verdict.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in the Fulton County courtroom on Thursday evening when the jury announced they had found Diontre Tigner guilty on all counts, including felony murder and other traffic charges.

Tigner was 16 years old at the time of the crash on Jan. 31, 2016. He’s now 24.

The jury deliberated for about two hours before reaching a guilty verdict just after 6 p.m.

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Police say Tigner carjacked a female limo driver at 9 a.m. that day in front of The Westin Hotel in College Park. They say he led police on a high-speed chase through several residential neighborhoods before he crashed into the family’s car.

Joi Partridge was one of the state’s best witnesses. She’s the daughter of the victim, driver Dorothy Wright, and the mother of the two children who died, 12-year-old Cameron and 6-year-old Layla.

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“She would take them to church every Sunday, as she was doing on that Sunday morning,” said Partridge.

She told the jury how close she was to her mom, Dorothy Wright, and how much her mom would help watch her kids while Joi had to work.

Somehow Tigner was the only survivor of the crash, and he got away from the scene. He was on the run for six years before College Park police arrested him and charged him with six counts of felony murder and three counts of hit and run.

Tigner is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.

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Trial for driver accused of killing grandmother, 2 children now in hands of the jury

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