Murder suspect arrested in Macon homicide at Econo Lodge

A Macon man is being held without bond in Sunday's killing at a local motel.

Rashad Marquez Mays, 26, was arrested at about 5 p.m. Monday at a residence in Lizella, according to a Bibb County sheriff's news release.

Mays is accused of gunning down Tarvares Lester, 38, at the Econo Lodge at 1990 Riverside Drive where both men were staying.

Bibb County sheriff's investigators and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force took Mays into custody without incident.

Mays also faces charges of aggravated battery, criminal trespass, theft by taking, and family violence battery charges, according to jail records.

His relationship to Lester was not immediately clear.

Bibb sheriff's public affairs Sgt. Clay Williams said the other charges are not related to the homicide.

Mays' criminal history shows that in September 2014, he was arrested for beating Shelby Mays, whose eyes and face were disfigured, according to the indictment.

Mays pleaded guilty in 2015 to the family violence charge of aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the third degree.

Court records show that in June 2015 Mays was sentenced to eight years for the aggravated assault charge.

Under first offender status, he was allowed to serve 180 days for cruelty to children and the rest of the eight-year sentence on probation unless he violated the conditions, which explains some of the charges he currently faces.

Deputies were called at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday after shots were fired at the motel between Forest and Ingleside avenues.

They found Lester dead in the parking lot in the county's 15th homicide of the year.

This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 5:04 AM with the headline "Murder suspect arrested in Macon homicide at Econo Lodge."