Fonda Spratt appears in a booking photo from November 2022. (Flowery Branch Police Department)
A Georgia woman who didn’t want to hear her neighbor’s barking dogs will no longer have to do so because she’ll be spending the next 27 years in state prison for violently taking matters into her own hands.
Fonda Suzette Spratt, 57, recently pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder, and one count each of home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm, according to Hall County court records obtained by Law&Crime. Two counts of aggravated assault were merged with her other charges. The defendant was also ordered to pay for “treatment” expenses incurred by her victim – up to $2,000.
Spratt was sentenced to 65 years – with the majority of that time due to be served on probation, the case’s final disposition shows. She must also perform 40 hours of community service.
The incident occurred late in the morning on Nov. 29, 2022.
Officers with the Flowery Branch Police Department responded to reports of a shooting and found a woman suffering from “multiple gunshot wounds” standing in the “roadway,” police said in a press release. Due to the use of a tourniquet applied by law enforcement, the woman’s two gunshot wounds did not prove to be fatal.
“This is incredibly unfortunate and could’ve ended in catastrophic results,” Flowery Branch Police Chief Christopher Hulsey said at the time. “There could have been more innocent individuals injured or killed. I am proud of the quick response time and sound decision-making of our officers and thankful that this incident was not worse.”
The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital in the Gainesville, Georgia, metropolitan area where she was able to recuperate.
Investigators immediately found Spratt and learned that the shooting occurred after the defendant barged into the victim’s home, complained about the canine din, pulled out a gun, and fired at her neighbor “multiple times,” according to the FBPD.
In January, the since-condemned woman was indicted on six counts after initially being arrested on the same number of charges. Along the way, however, one charge of reckless conduct was dropped – replaced with one additional count of attempted murder.
“She did admit that she wanted to kill her,” Hulsey previously told Gainesville-based newspaper The Times.
The victim also relayed the circumstances of the violence to another neighbor who rushed over to help after he heard the initial gunshot.
Two women exited. The victim clutched her breast as her sister applied pressure to the wound. The victim was also shot in her wrist.
“I think (the victim) was running on adrenaline because they ran out of the apartment after (the shooter) took three shots, apparently,” Terry Ryan, the owner of Flowery Branch Mini Storage on Chattahoochee Street – across from where the shooting occurred – told the paper.
The local business owner was the second person to render aid to the victim, he said, shocked by the violence in the small suburb.
“It’s the quietest town in Georgia,” Ryan said. “It’s a really, really, nice little town. Nothing usually happens.”
Before her Sept. 15 plea agreement, Spratt was slated to go on trial on Sept. 25. A court date in the case is scheduled for Oct. 17.
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