Security guard charged with murder in Macon parking lot is former Fort Valley cop

Details have emerged in the fatal shooting of a 911 dispatcher outside a Macon bar and about the security guard charged with his murder.

Devontae Tennyson, 25, of Macon, was fatally wounded outside the Midtown Daiquiri Bar & Grill at 4376 Log Cabin Drive late Wednesday night. He was pronounced dead at the Medical Center, Navicent Health, shortly after midnight.

Donavon Scott-Sinclair, 24, who worked security at the bar and who previously worked in law enforcement, was charged Thursday with murder. Scott-Sinclair, whose father is a Bibb sheriff’s deputy, was being held at the Jones County jail.

New details

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told the Telegraph on Friday that investigators have determined there was not an exchange of gunfire as initially released by the sheriff’s office.

“These things are evolving,” Davis said. “You get one series of statements as to what happened and that was one of things that had been said that there had been an exchange of gunfire.

“But the evidence — and there’s also some security cameras around that sort of showed the scene and everything — so there was no indication that there was any exchange of gunfire; no indication that Tennyson ever fired his weapon.”

Investigators are still attempting to sort out just what happened just before the shooting, Davis said. They know that Tennyson was getting ready to leave the bar when he may have gotten involved in argument. Tennyson was seen leaving with two women who had been arguing.

“He walked out and then word spread that he was going out to get a gun,” Davis said. “Then the security guards, which one of them was (Scott-Sinclair) went out to see what was going on.”

Two other men were also arguing outside the bar.

Tennyson was standing by his vehicle with an AR-15 automatic rifle by his side as Scott-Sinclair approached him, Davis said. They had brief words and Scott-Sinclair “fired at Tennyson,” according to Davis. There’s no indication that Tennyson brandished his weapon in a threatening manner.

The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST), which certifies law enforcement officers, is expected to conduct its own investigation of Scott-Sinclair.

Scott-Sinclair’s history in law enforcement

Scott-Sinclair was on probation with POST at the time of his arrest. He had voluntarily resigned from a Georgia police agency in February, resigned from another in 2019 and fired from another in 2018, according to Georgia POST records.

“Because he was arrested for a felony, we will suspend his certification,” Ryan Powell, the agency’s deputy executive director, said in an email. “We will then open another investigation on him.”

Scott-Sinclair was placed on probation by POST in lieu of revocation of his police certification after an “undue force” investigation for an incident while working at the Fort Valley Police Department in 2018, according to POST records. He was to take courses in anger management, use of force and arrest procedure at his own expense.

According to the case summary of the POST investigation, POST looked at two incidents:

▪ On Oct. 17, 2018, Scott-Sinclair was involved in a foot chase when he caught a suspect and a “physical altercation” took place, the summary said. During the struggle, Scott-Sinclair struck the suspect on the head with his service weapon. Scott-Sinclair had failed to activate his dash camera and body camera to capture the encounter.

▪ On Aug. 29, 2018, Scott-Sinclair was on patrol when did not provide dispatch with a clear location or answer his radio when called while involved in foot pursuit, the summary said. He also failed to activate his dash camera and body camera before coming into contact with the suspect.

Scott Sinclair was fired Oct. 19, 2018, while he was still on hiring probationary status with Fort Valley police. He had worked there since Jan. 4, 2018, according to POST records.

On Feb 25, Scott-Sinclair voluntarily resigned from the Marshallville Police Department after serving there since May 31, 2019, according to POST records. He previously resigned voluntarily from the Montezuma Police Department on May 30, 2019 after working there about four months.