Woman pleads guilty in Macon boy’s shooting. Boy’s father says, ‘I’ll pray for her’

A woman set to go on trial for the 2017 shooting and critical wounding of a Macon teen she was trying to scare away from her Bloomfield Drive home pleaded guilty Monday.

Elisabeth Faye Cannon, 48, who could face up to 20 years in prison for aggravated assault, will be sentenced next week. She was handcuffed and taken to the Bibb County jail after pleading.

On the evening of Jan. 16, 2017, after calling 911 about trespassers, Cannon shot 15-year-old Vernon Marcus Jr. in the head with a .38-caliber revolver.

Jury selection in the case was about to begin Monday when lawyers met behind closed doors and emerged to announce that there would be a guilty plea.

Investigators have said Cannon told them she fired shots to scare people away and didn’t mean to hurt anyone.

Investigators also said Cannon had previously reported that people were throwing rocks at her house and that if they came back she would shoot them.

Vernon Marcus Sr., 44, who was in court on Monday, said his son, who turned 16 in December, is still recovering.

“He’s getting better. It’s just a slow process. Right now he’s beginning to talk a little better, just a little better,” the senior Marcus told The Telegraph. “We’ve been through situations where he was sitting still and couldn’t move for 30 to 45 days. You didn’t know what was going. … It was rough, really rough.”

Asked what he might say to Cannon if he could, the elder Marcus said he would tell her, “I’ll pray for her because she needs it. … She needs it.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2018 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Woman pleads guilty in Macon boy’s shooting. Boy’s father says, ‘I’ll pray for her’."