Little Caesars manager slain on Friday night in Leesburg remembered

LEESBURG – The Friday night slaying in Leesburg of Joseph Dorminey has shocked the community and those who worked at the eight Little Caesars’ locations that he managed.

The death of Dorminey, who was known to all as Joey, will leave a big void, from his family to those in need that he has generously helped for years, long-time friend Stephen Brimberry said.

“He was a hurricane of sunshine,” Brimberry said. “Joey was so well-connected in this town, and he gave so much to the community. I woke up with anxiety thinking, ‘There’s not a Joey anymore.’ This loss is going to be so hard to replace.”

The organizers of the annual “Out in the Wild” festival held at Chehaw Park plan to remember their friend in July, shifting the emphasis of the annual gay pride event to one recognizing Dorminey’s legacy as a benefactor of the event.

Dorminey, who was director of operations for eight Little Caesars in the region, was shot multiple times at the 1545 Walnut St. location at about 9:20 p.m. Friday, according to a news release from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Restaurant employee Daquan Divonte Harris, 28, of Lithonia, was arrested, and he has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

Harris had been a Little Caesars employee for a short time before the shooting, Brimberry said. Video footage showed Dorminey, 48, being shot from behind.

Dorminey was known for acts of kindness throughout the area, his friend said. On one occasion, while Albany radio personality Jazzmine Phoenix was being treated for COVD-19 at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, she requested pizza on her birthday for herself and her nurses.

“He brought pizza for everybody at Phoebe,” Brimberry said. “It was in honor of Jazzmine Phoenix, who passed away from COVID.”

Dorminey’s generosity also included helping the homeless and most anyone who crossed his path, Brimberry said, from the simple such as giving a customer a Little Caesars eyeglass cleaning cloth to the day before his death, when he vacuumed a section of AJ’s Seafood and Oyster Bar and leaving his waitress a generous tip because she seemed to be having a hard day.

“One of his sisters (recently) had a stroke, and he was in the process of getting her comfortable and recovering,” Brimberry said. “She was paralyzed. She’s really going to have a hard time getting over this because he was her support system.

“And he had his family with two dogs, Sophie and Munson. Everybody kind of knows Munson because last year he went missing and there was a communitywide search for him.”

Plans are to hold Out in the Wild in July instead of June this year to coincide with Dorminey’s birthday. Instead of the usual party, organizers are looking at a remembrance with a silent DJ and will look toward the theme being related to Dorminey in future years.

On Monday, Anthony King, who owns the eight Little Caesars locations that Dorminey managed, was contacting employees and was referring those who needed some help to a grief counselor. Dorminey had worked with King since 2009.

“He’s been my right-hand man; he’s been my friend,” King said. “There’s a lot of people he’s impacted. He was a philanthropist. He’s always been so involved with the community.

“It’s like, if somebody needed money, he would give it to them out of his own pocket. That’s just what’s so sad about this situation. He was always fair, and he was like that with everybody. He was Mr. Pizza for sure in town.”

File Photo: Tara Fletcher