Alleged accomplice in Mercer player’s slaying beaten bloody in jail

A man charged in the shooting death of Mercer University basketball player Jibri Bryan was beaten bloody in an apparent attack at the Bibb County jail.

One of the inmates responsible for the man’s injuries may be his co-defendant in Bryan’s killing.

Jarvis Clinton Miller told authorities that one of his jailhouse assailants is alleged triggerman Damion “Tyson” Deray Henderson.

Miller could testify against Henderson at trial. Both men have been charged with murder in Bryan’s death, which happened outside a gas mart in downtown Macon early this year.

Henderson, 34, was charged with aggravated battery after the May 4 incident at the jail in which he and other inmates were said to have attacked the 25-year-old Miller.

It wasn’t clear what prompted the beating.

The Telegraph learned of the jail fight Thursday. Henderson had been scheduled to appear in Bibb Superior Court at a bond hearing, but the hearing was canceled.

Bryan, 23, was fatally shot in the head Feb. 2 after backing his Chevrolet Monte Carlo into a parking space at the Flash Foods at the corner of College and Forsyth streets.

A Bibb sheriff’s investigator testified at a March court hearing that Henderson tried to sell Bryan fake Xanax. When Bryan realized the drugs weren't real, he refused to buy them and was fatally shot.

Henderson, who hails from Riverdale on Atlanta’s south side, and Miller, from Macon, have blamed the shooting on one another, authorities have said. Both men were indicted in April, charged with murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Henderson also is charged with another count of felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was convicted of armed robbery in 2002 in Clayton County. He spent 11 years in prison before his release in 2013.

On the evening of May 4 at the Bibb lockup, jailers were handing out dinner trays when Miller stepped out of his cell. His face and neck were covered in blood, according to a Bibb sheriff’s report.

Miller told deputies he was “jumped” by a dozen or more inmates, including Henderson.

Miller’s jaw was fractured and one of his eardrums was “busted” after being punched and kicked, according to an arrest warrant filed after the fight.

Jail records show Henderson still is being held at the county jail.

Miller no longer is listed as an inmate. It’s unclear whether he was released on bond or transferred elsewhere.

Miller was shot in the neck during the encounter in which Bryan was killed.

A witness at the Flash Foods store reported seeing Miller running away after Bryan was shot. Miller was seen heading behind the nearby Ronald McDonald House.

Police found a .380-caliber handgun behind a trash bin in the area where Miller had run. The gun was jammed and didn’t work.

Another gun, a 9 mm, was found near a ditched Nissan Sentra that Henderson and Miller rode in to meet Bryan at the gas mart.

Shell casings from a 9 mm handgun were found in the gas mart parking lot.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Alleged accomplice in Mercer player’s slaying beaten bloody in jail."