WACO, Texas (FOX 44) – A man accused of using a dating app to connect with a man and then killing him has entered a guilty plea to murder.
Damarion T. DiGrate was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He is accused of fatally shooting Jonathan Deshawn Breeding, who was killed on Aug. 17, 2020, near the area of āāNorth 34th Street and Brook Circle.
There were three shootings that night. Waco police said during the investigation of all three shootings, detectives learned they had at least one thing in common. All three victims had been contacted through the dating app Grindr.
Police said DeGrate contacted the victims through Grindr and made plans to meet. At the time he was charged in Breeding’s death, DeGrate had previously been arrested in one of the shootings and was on bond. He was not implicated as a suspect in the fatal shooting until later, when Waco police obtained a new warrant for murder. DeGrate was actually charged with capital murder, but was allowed to plead to a lesser charge.
In court Tuesday, DeGlate also pleaded guilty to another charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
DeGrate had remained in the McLennan County Jail for more than 1,000 days at the time of his plea and sentencing.