COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The man who shot and killed his girlfriend while sitting inside a Cobb County Mexican restaurant in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on March 8, according to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.

Officials said 53-year-old Jose Ramon Lemus shot his girlfriend, 43-year-old Janice Ross, in the neck as they sat having lunch at El Ranchero Mexican Restaurant on Cobb Parkway.

Lemus then ran from the restaurant, prompting a lockdown at nearby Kennesaw State University.

“This was senseless, and it was tragic. You have not just destroyed one life. You have brought destruction on an entire family. I hope that weighs on you for the rest of your natural life,” said Superior Court Judge Ann B. Harris.

“I need my mom here and she won’t be there. She won’t be at prom or my high school graduation. I won’t ever get my mom back and it hurts. I hope he knows how badly he has affected me,” the victim’s 14-year-old daughter said during the sentencing.

Police said Lemus and Ross started arguing after Ross asked him about a woman he had been talking to. After the shooting, he fled into nearby woods towards the Marietta Campus of Kennesaw State University and Life University.

He was eventually found hiding in the bushes near a baseball field on KSU’s Marietta campus.

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