Darryl Dana Thomas Jr.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — A Moultrie man who pleaded guilty in a February 2016 shooting that left another paralyzed received a 10-year prison sentence for what police described as a case of payback.

Superior Court Judge Harry J. Altman sentenced Darryl Dana Thomas Jr. on May 4 to a 20-year sentence after Thomas pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the shooting of Darian Williams. Ten years are to be served in prison and 10 on probation.

Altman also sentenced Thomas to a five-year prison sentence on one count of possession of a firearm by a first-time probationer. That sentence will run simultaneously with other sentence.

Thomas also was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. Prosecutors dismissed charges of aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony as part of the plea arrangement.

Darian Williams was shot multiple times in an assault that occurred about an hour later and a quarter mile from the scene where police were investigating an earlier fatal shooting at an apartment complex near Woodmen of the World Park in Southwest Moultrie

His assault on Feb. 16 was retaliation for an earlier shooting in which Ryshaun Montay Bigelow was gunned down in the first slaying of 2016 in the county, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Bigelow was shot multiple times at about 3:10 p.m. on Feb. 16 in the 100 block of Seventh Street Southwest. Donterrius Williams, Darian Williams’ brother, has been charged with murder in connection with Bigelow’s death.

While some dozen law enforcement officers were at that scene where Bigelow was shot, five rapid shots rang out at about 4:05 p.m. The gunfire was so close that some of the police officers at the scene instinctively crouched and ordered the clearing from the area of several dozen bystanders gathered around the perimeter set up by officers.

“The investigation determined that Thomas committed the crime in response to Ryshaun Bigelow being shot and killed on the same day in February,” according to the GBI.

Darian Williams’ brother Donterrius Williams was charged with murder in Bigelow’s slaying. He is being held at Colquitt County Jail, where he has been since February 2016, with his bond set at $250,000.

Thomas, 25, 714 10th Ave. N.W., was indicted during the June 2016 term of a Colquitt County Court on the five charges: aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm by a first-time probationer, and two counts possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Darian Williams’ injuries are such that he has lost the use of his legs, according to prosecutors, which accounts for the felony battery charge.

A third brother, Dewayne Williams Jr., was fatally shot on Feb. 4 outside the 50 Yard Line club at 300 Second St. N.E. The GBI has indicated that the shooting could have been self-defense and that its findings have been handed to the district attorney’s office for presentation to a grand jury.