A man wanted in the fatal shooting of a Syracuse father was captured in Columbia, South Carolina, on Tuesday, closing out a six-month search that began when gunfire tore through a South Side street and left a 10-year-old boy wounded alongside the man who died. Divinetae Toatley was taken into custody by a United States Marshals Service Task Force and now faces second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charges tied to the April shooting death of 39-year-old Deron McGee.
Toatley, described as 23 years old in the announcement of his arrest, is awaiting extradition proceedings back to Syracuse, according to syracuse.com. An earlier police wanted notice and other reporting had listed him as 22, a discrepancy that remains unresolved in the public record. Police say he and 27-year-old Shaquan Hyppolite, both of Syracuse, are accused of shooting McGee to death in April.
Gunfire on Warner Avenue
The shooting unfolded shortly after 3 p.m. on April 8, when officers responded to the 200 block of Warner Avenue after reports of gunfire, per syracuse.com. Police arrived to find McGee suffering a serious gunshot wound and a 10-year-old boy whose leg had been grazed by a bullet. Both were rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where McGee later died of his injuries; the station's report does not specify the boy's eventual condition beyond the initial treatment.
The attack also struck close to a painful family history. McGee was the father of Deron McGee Jr., who was shot and killed in August 2024 at age 15, according to cnycentral.com. Three suspects, Quinntone Moore, Uzziah Murray and Torrin Brown, were arrested and charged as adults with murder in that earlier case, the station reported.
A Months-Long Manhunt Splits Across State Lines
Hyppolite was arrested in New Jersey in May, months before Toatley was found. Per syracuse.com's earlier coverage, he was taken into custody in connection with the same April 8 shooting death of McGee and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He had been held at the Hudson County Correction Facility pending extradition to Syracuse, the outlet reported.
Investigators identified Toatley as a second suspect through an investigation that localsyr.com described as still ongoing even after both men were named. Syracuse police have asked anyone with information to contact detectives as the case continues to develop.
A City Watching Its Shooting Numbers Shift
The McGee case lands amid a broader, uneven picture of gun violence in Syracuse. Shootings and firearm homicides between January and July 2026 were down roughly a third compared with the same stretch in 2025, according to cnycentral.com, with 29 shooting victims recorded through July versus 42 the year before, and six of those victims dying from their injuries.
Yet the same report found shots-fired calls climbing 39% to 286 over that period, even as police recovered more firearms and made more weapons-possession arrests than the prior year. The contrast underscores a department making some gains against gun violence while still fielding a rising volume of gunfire reports citywide.
