Macon soldier killed Sunday remembered for dedication to band

Marquez Brown’s demeanor perfectly fit the drum major position he held while attending Southwest High School.

Brown was one of the first students that band director Dominique Lane taught when they both arrived at the Macon school in 2008. Four years after Brown’s graduation, he returned to Southwest this past summer to mentor fellow drum majors.

On Sunday, the Fort Stewart Army specialist and another solider were killed at a southeast Georgia townhouse. Hinesville police have charged Army Sgt. Shaquille D. Craig with two counts of murder in the deaths of the 23-year-old Brown and Pvt. Malika Darion Jackson, 21, of Foley, Alabama.

The news of Brown’s death was shocking for Lane, who fondly remembers the sharp dresser with a big smile. Brown often served as mediator when there were minor disputes among some of his band mates.

“I was proud of him for going into the military and to be enlisted and being successful. ... I just couldn’t believe it,” Lane said of Brown’s death.

Brown’s dedication to the Patriots marching band included his walking long distances to get to practice during the summer.

“He was what I consider a cool kid,” Lane said of his former student. “He never seemed to get upset about much. He was very passionate about band and that we were successful. He was an easygoing kid. Nothing really ruffled his feathers.”

Brown joined the Army in 2014 and had been stationed at Fort Stewart since April 2016. Jackson, an automated logistics specialist, arrived at the base in October.

Craig, 24, was a petroleum supply specialist in a different division than Brown and Jackson. WTOC-TV in Savannah reported there appears to have been an issue between Craig and Jackson that led to the incident.

Brown and Jackson were seen alive by friends Sunday morning after a party the previous night. An anonymous tip made hundreds of miles away in metro Atlanta led Hinesville police to the bloody scene inside the home.

One or more tipsters called police in Peachtree City, just southwest of Atlanta, and in Conyers, about 25 miles east of Atlanta, to report the homicides, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“It is unlikely there is any link at all to Peachtree City,” Peachtree City police Lt. Matt Myers told the Atlanta newspaper. “They may have just looked for agencies in Georgia and we were near the top of the list they could submit anonymous tips to.”

Anyone with information on the Fort Stewart shootings is asked to call the Hinesville Police Department at 912-368-8211.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Macon soldier killed Sunday remembered for dedication to band."