Gwinnett man who shot woman through door after she complained about loud music won’t be charged
The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office has declined to prosecute a man who shot through his apartment door, striking an unarmed woman who raised concerns about loud music.
“I did nothing to deserve this,” said Jalyne Evans-Jones, through tears. “It’s just so frustrating because it’s like they won’t even believe us.”
She told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson that she suffered serious injuries to her wrist and abdomen when Alejandro Querales-Morales fired a single shot through his closed apartment door at the Veranda Chase Apartments near Lawrenceville in August 2023, according to police.
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The bullet struck Evans-Jones in the abdomen, damaging her liver and colon. She and her husband had gone to Querales-Morales’ door around 10 p.m. to ask him to lower his music after the complex’s quiet hours.
“We knocked on the apartment door politely to ask them to lower the music because it was after the apartment’s quiet hours,” said Eric Jones, Evans-Jones’ husband. “We were thinking we were being neighborly, only to be met with a bullet being discharged behind a closed door.”
Querales-Morales told investigators he looked through his peephole and saw what he believed to be a gun, prompting him to fire in self-defense. According to police reports, Querales-Morales said he had people over for a gathering and had drank “approximately seven beers” starting around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. before the incident.
A witness from a neighboring apartment told police she saw Jones with a gun in one hand and a phone in another shortly after hearing the gunshot. Jones explains this was after he had returned to his apartment to retrieve his keys and his firearm, following the shooting of his wife.
“If I had a gun at that particular time, why would I not then turn around and discharge my firearm?” he asked. “There was no evidence that they could produce that would put a gun in my hand prior to that shooting occurring.”
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Initially charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct by Gwinnett police, the Gwinnett County Solicitor’s Office later recommended upgrading the charge against Querales-Morales to aggravated battery.
In a September 2023 memo, the Solicitor’s Office noted that Querales-Morales “fired a firearm through a door knowing that victim was standing directly outside of doorway.”
The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office dismissed all charges in January 2025, citing self-defense as the reason for the dismissal.
“There should be some accountability,” Evans-Jones said. “To not receive any kind of justice is hard.”
Eric Jones says he will continue seeking justice for his wife. He is calling for three specific actions: a formal appeal to the District Attorney’s Office to reinstate felony charges based on the available evidence, an independent review of the case, and legislative action to prevent similar cases from being dismissed under self-defense claims.
“I’m going to continue to advocate and fight for justice for my wife, which she rightfully deserves, if it takes the last breath,” he said.
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