Forsyth County shooting suspect now faces murder charge after victim dies

A south Forsyth County shooting that began as an aggravated assault case is now a murder prosecution after Antonio Sanchez died July 4, nearly two months after he was shot at a Shiloh Road residence. Jose Luis Delgado Mendoza, 35, remains in the Forsyth County Jail without bond on additional murder warrants.

Forsyth County deputies responded just before 8 p.m. on May 7 to the home where Mendoza and Sanchez, 51, lived as roommates. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said Mendoza told detectives the confrontation began as a verbal argument over roof repair and escalated into a physical fight. Investigators said Mendoza went to his room, retrieved a handgun and later fired multiple times as Sanchez advanced with a machete. Sanchez was struck multiple times and taken to a nearby hospital.

Deputies located Mendoza around noon on May 8 near Redi Road in central Forsyth County. He was initially booked on aggravated assault while Sanchez remained in critical condition. The charging picture changed only after Sanchez died on July 4, a shift that moves the case from an injury-based shooting investigation into a homicide prosecution. Additional murder warrants were issued after the death, and prosecutors will now have to prove that the gunfire caused Sanchez’s death and fits Georgia’s murder statute.

Under Georgia law, a murder conviction can carry death, life without parole or life imprisonment. That makes the new charge a far more serious exposure than the original aggravated assault count and puts the case on a different track in Forsyth County’s courts.

The case has also drawn local attention because it unfolded in a county residence, involved county deputies and ended with a death weeks after the original arrest. Forsyth County’s population estimate rose from 280,096 on July 1, 2024, to 282,805 on July 1, 2025, and a violent case in a residential neighborhood can quickly ripple through a fast-growing suburb like south Forsyth.

The sheriff’s office also says it offers victim assistance resources for crime victims, a reminder that the case reaches beyond the criminal charge sheet. With Mendoza still jailed without bond, the murder case now continues through Forsyth County’s legal system on charges that reflect the fatal outcome of the May shooting.