ATLANTA -- Investigators are asking for the public to be on the lookout for a person of interest related to a weekend shooting that left a father of four dead.
On July 16, police responded to a residence on Bent Creek Way in southwest Atlanta around 2:40 a.m. to find Deante Benton shot to death. Police said he had gunshot wounds to the head and torso. Another person, a 57-year-old man, was also shot in the legs and transported to Grady Hospital for treatment and is stable.
Benton's sister said he had just gotten home from seeing a movie when someone pulled up and shot him and other man. Family said Benton had just celebrated his 29th birthday Saturday.
Police are still investigating the incident and said the shooting may have stemmed from an argument that quickly escalated to gunfire.
After interviewing multiple people from the scene, investigators identified Mariol Rawls as a person of interest. Based off interviews from witnesses, officials believe Rawls was shot at some point during the argument and sustained a "pretty substantial gunshot wound" to the stomach.
"We believe that he is somewhere being treated, we just don't know where," said Ricardo Vasquez, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department's Homicide Unit.
Investigators said they've looked for Rawls at all the metro area hospitals and have not found him yet, however, they did recover a vehicle that was spotted driving away from the scene. It's currently being processed.
At this point, investigators think Rawls is the only person from the argument that they have not questioned, and they say he's been inn touch with his family, so they believe he's alive. They just don't know where.
"We believe that his family would probably be a little more concerned if they had not had contact with him," Vasquez said. "So we believe that he's somewhere being treated."
Anyone, particularly health care providers, who has seen Rawls is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477. They can remain anonymous.
