Second man pleads guilty in deadly Wings Cafe shootout

After pleading guilty to throwing a chair and a glass bottle in the 2014 shootout at Macon’s Wings Cafe that left three men fatally wounded, Shavious Antwan Balkcom expressed his remorse.

“I’m sorry for my participation,” said Balkcom, 27, as he stood in a Bibb County courtroom Thursday. “To the families that lost their loved ones, I’m sorry for that too.”

Superior Court Judge Howard Simms replied, “Whatever happens in the end, you’re still here. The other three people are gone. They’re not ever coming back. There’s going to be an empty plate at somebody’s Thanksgiving table. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir,” Balkcom replied.

Balkcom is the second man to plead guilty in the case that prosecutors allege began with members of the Blacc Team street gang, a division of the larger Gangster Disciples, traveling to the Bloomfield Drive nightclub Dec. 12, 2014.

The now-shuttered Wings Cafe was a known Crips gang hangout. Surveillance footage shows alleged Blacc Team members arriving together and gathering to go inside.

Authorities allege a man from the Blacc Team group flicked a cigarette inside, sparking a fight that included shots being fired by people on both sides, along with chairs, bottles and punches being thrown.

Corey Hollingshed, 25, George Henley, 34, and Derrick Jackson, 38, were fatally shot. A woman was shot four times, but she survived.

Balkcom pleaded guilty to violating the state’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and two misdemeanor simple assault charges as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. He is now required to continue cooperating with authorities and testify at the Aug. 15 trial for seven other men charged in the case. Two of the men also face separate federal racketeering charges in an Atlanta-based gang case.

Balkcom’s sentence, also a condition of the plea agreement, will keep him in jail until July 14, 2017. He also must serve 15 years on probation with special gang conditions. If he violates the gang conditions, he could be resentenced to serve up to 15 years in prison.

Balkcom also pleaded guilty to violating his probation from two other cases — one from 2011 that charged him with theft by receiving stolen property and another from the same year that charged him with felony marijuana possession — through his participation in the Wings Cafe incident.

Floyd Buford, Balkcom’s lawyer, said his client intends to comply with prosecutors’ deal and to ask a judge to reduce his jail sentence after his testimony later this summer.

“He realizes the seriousness of the case,” Buford said. “He realizes the problems he has created. … He is remorseful.”

In April, Brinton Clinton Williams, 31, of Warner Robins, pleaded guilty to violating the state’s gang act and two counts of being party to the crime of simple assault, a misdemeanor.

He also must testify during the trial as part of his plea bargain and was sentenced to two years in jail followed by 15 years on probation. He will be released from custody after he testifies.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Second man pleads guilty in deadly Wings Cafe shootout."