Relatives said Ronald Tyrone Hodge stepped into a confrontation before the 2022 shooting that prompted renewed concern about local violence.
DECATUR, Ga. — The family of Ronald Tyrone Hodge said he was trying to help a woman during a confrontation at a DeKalb County gas station when he was fatally shot in April 2022, an account that became central to how loved ones remembered him after his death.
Police said Hodge was killed early April 26 at a Valero station on Candler Road near Interstate 20 after an argument involving Jurrell Kelvin Bethel, a Covington man who later surrendered to authorities. Investigators said at the time that the shooting followed a dispute, but they did not publicly announce a motive.
Hodge’s son, Ryan Hodge, told FOX 5 Atlanta after the shooting that his father had intervened after seeing a man struggling or fighting with a woman. That account came from the family and was not presented by police as a confirmed investigative finding in the reports reviewed for this story.
Ryan Hodge described his father as mild-mannered, humorous and protective of other people. He said his father had worked in retail management before his time at the gas station and was known for helping other workers advance along with him. The family said Hodge was originally from Indiana.
The shooting also resonated beyond Hodge’s family. Community groups in DeKalb County were already confronting concerns about violence at gas stations and convenience stores, and Hodge’s death became part of a wider public discussion about a series of shootings at such locations. Local organizations organized a rally calling for an end to the violence.
Authorities said Bethel turned himself in one day after the shooting. He was initially accused of malice murder, according to law enforcement announcements and news reports from the time. As with all criminal allegations, that charge did not establish guilt.
Later court records show that the case moved forward under a different set of charges. A DeKalb County Superior Court calendar dated Aug. 7, 2024, listed Bethel on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The record listed a $71,700 bond and indicated that he was not in jail.
The court calendar does not explain the legal reasoning behind the change from the initial malice murder allegation to the charges listed in 2024. No later disposition was located in the public records reviewed for this report, and the available material does not establish whether the case has since ended in a plea, trial, dismissal or another court action.
For Hodge’s family, the public record of the case sits alongside a more personal account of the man they lost. Their description of him as someone who stepped in to help others gave the shooting a lasting meaning separate from the criminal proceedings that followed.
The most recent court document located for this report is the August 2024 arraignment calendar. Any subsequent outcome in Bethel’s case could not be independently confirmed from the material reviewed.
Author note: Last updated November 11, 2026.