Darrin Wright has two enduring visions of his beloved late son, David Addo Wright — one triumphant, the other heartbreaking.
The first is of David, 24, a former Clark Atlanta University student, participating in a December 2025 U.S. Marine Corps swearing-in ceremony, the proud beginning of a military career he was planning to pursue.
The second is of David slowly dying inside DeKalb County Jail around 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 after an alleged stabbing at the hands of six other inmates.
“I’m just thinking how my son died alone on a cold concrete floor, bleeding out, probably calling on his mom’s name or his dad’s name,” an emotional Darrin Wright told Capital B Atlanta during a phone interview. “That’s the image I have to live with.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed Monday it’s still examining what happened to David Wright at the request of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, which has declined to comment on the case.
The results of a DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy haven’t been released.
“This investigation is active and ongoing,” GBI wrote in a press release. “Anyone with information is encouraged to call the GBI Atlanta Regional Investigative Office in Conyers at 770-388-5019. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling the GBI Tipline at 800-597-TIPS (8477).”
David Wright’s family is calling on the public to demand answers from local authorities to ensure what happened to their loved one doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“If you are taking away someone’s civil liberties, you have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure their safety while in your care,” Darrin Wright said. “[My son] was brutally murdered in a system that’s supposed to be [about] criminal justice.”
David’s family and their attorney, Mawuli Davis, said they were told his attackers were members of a local gang that demanded he pay them for use of a phone to call his family.
“This is something that has been swirling and happening in DeKalb County jail at least the last several months,” Davis said. “We are still in our investigation to really try to track back and lock down who knew what, when, and for how long.”
David reportedly posted bond and was preparing to head home before the incident occurred. His father said GBI officers came to the family’s home on Sept. 24 and told him his son had been killed. Officials have declined to confirm details on what happened.
David’s sister, Aisha Wright, a New York-based criminal defense attorney, said her family was told that corrections officers didn’t discover her brother’s body until roughly 45 minutes after the fatal assault, and it was already “cold to the touch,” according to the family’s attorney. Their claims echo reports of poor conditions inside the jail, where Aisha said an estimated “85%” of locks have been broken by inmates.
At least seven people died inside the jail in 2025, Capital B Atlanta reported previously.
“When they did get there, they didn’t administer lifesaving measures,” Aisha said of DeKalb County corrections officers. “They waited for a nurse to come.”
David Wright eventually was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Family members said his death came less than two days after he was jailed following a fight with his gun-wielding cousin that ended with the firearm accidentally discharging at a Walmart Supercenter in Chamblee.
David Wright had no prior criminal record.
He was laid to rest at Hillandale Memorial Gardens in Lithonia on Oct. 1 following a packed service at Divine Mortuary Funeral Home that was attended by an estimated 200 people, according to loved ones.
David’s family remembers him as a loving, sometimes “silly” sibling and uncle as well as an aspiring engineer who served as a positive male role model for his nephew and nieces.
“He was somebody that we could always rely on, even though he was in another state,” Aisha Wright said. “My son loved him. My niece loved him. He was just very reliable.”
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