Doraville shooting leaves one dead and two patrons hurt by glass

The first reports from outside a Doraville restaurant left the dead man unnamed and the circumstances unclear. Subsequent police accounts identified Pablo Gutierrez-Gallegos as the man killed and Daniel Roman-Cortez as the suspect detained after the shooting. Those accounts have supplied an alleged motive and a reported admission, but not a complete explanation of what happened around midnight Sunday, October 25, 2026. ^{6 1 2}

The violence also reached people seated inside the Buford Highway restaurant. Two patrons were struck by shattered glass, treated or evaluated at the scene and cleared of serious injury. They were not reported to have suffered gunshot wounds—a distinction that matters in understanding the toll. ^{1 2}

Officers answering reports of active gunfire found Gutierrez-Gallegos unresponsive on the pavement outside a restaurant. They attempted emergency lifesaving measures, but DeKalb County paramedics pronounced him dead there. Telemundo Atlanta’s early scene report said his body remained at the location for several hours while authorities worked and waited for forensic personnel. ^{1 2 6}

Police said Roman-Cortez tried to leave in a blue pickup truck. Officers stopped it and detained him. FOX 5 Atlanta described him surrendering during that stop; WSB-TV described his detention. Those descriptions are compatible, and neither establishes that he resisted officers. ^{1 2}

During the encounter, investigators say, Roman-Cortez told officers, “I shot him, I killed him.” The quotation comes from the police account reported by FOX 5 and WSB-TV, not from a recording or interview document independently obtained by HeyDay News. ^{1 2}

Police also say Roman-Cortez accused Gutierrez-Gallegos of “sleeping with his wife.” Investigators describe the suspected motive as a personal dispute involving that alleged affair. The accusation is not an independently established relationship: the available reporting does not corroborate it or establish the wife’s account. ^{1 2}

A reported admission is significant evidence, but it does not, by itself, reconstruct a shooting. The full sequence remains unexplained, and an allegation about a relationship is neither a proven fact nor a justification for killing someone.

Law&Crime reporting carried by NewsBreak says Roman-Cortez is charged with murder and six counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, attributing that list to jail records. A matching booking entry or charging document has not been independently obtained, so those remain reported charges rather than a verified account of the court case. The basis for each reported assault count has not been explained. ¹¹

That is a more specific account than FOX 5’s initial October 25 report, which said officials had not released formal charges. The earlier lack of a disclosed charge list does not establish that no charges exist; equally, the later media report does not replace the underlying legal record. Roman-Cortez is presumed innocent of the reported accusations. ^{1 11}

The available October 25–26 accounts describe Roman-Cortez as remaining in custody. His custody status after those reports has not been confirmed, and no subsequent release has been established. It would be premature to describe either continued detention or release as his verified current status. ^{1 2 7}

The location requires similar care. Police responded to reports of gunfire in the 5700 block of Buford Highway. FOX 5’s detailed account places the pavement where officers found Gutierrez-Gallegos outside a restaurant in the 5800 block. These are two reference points—the response location and the victim’s location—not necessarily conflicting accounts of the same doorway. ¹

Telemundo Atlanta’s October 25 scene report placed the shooting in the vicinity of Shandelds Tequilas & Grill at 5803 Buford Highway. That business name, spelling and address are a provisional media identification, not a police-confirmed designation of the shooting location. The later police-derived reporting still left the specific business unconfirmed. ^{6 1}

The timing is approximate, too: around midnight at the start of Sunday, October 25, rather than late Sunday or early Monday. The accounts establish roughly when gunfire was reported and officers responded, not an exact time for the first shot or the truck stop. ^{1 2}

Doraville police are investigating with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, including processing evidence from the scene. Physical evidence and witness accounts are needed to establish the circumstances beyond the words police attribute to Roman-Cortez. Neither the number of shots fired nor a complete sequence has been established in the available reporting. ^{1 2}

Investigators have asked witnesses and anyone with relevant information to contact Doraville police at 770-455-1000. No dated hearing or other scheduled next step has been established. The immediate questions are confirmation of the reported charges and custody status, an official identification of the business, and what investigators can substantiate about the shooting itself. ^{1 2}