‘I want to know why this happened,’ mom says of fatal shooting of 19-year-old

The shooting of a 19-year-old man Wednesday night was being investigated as Macon’s third homicide, but there was speculation that the shooting could have resulted from youths playing with guns.

Jahfari Shakwun Bullard of Macon was found lying in the road near the intersection of Ferguson and Lamar streets by arriving deputies who answered a call about a shooting just before 9:30 p.m., Bibb County sheriff’s officials said.

Bullard was taken to the Medical Center, Navicent Health. He died at 1:25 a.m. Thursday in the operating room, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said.

“I want to know why this happened to my baby,” said Samantha Bullard with tears streaming down her face as she fought for composure to talk about her oldest son.

Her sister sat beside her on the living room couch of the Bullard home on Neal Avenue.

“He was a good kid,” Samantha Bullard said. “He didn’t give me any trouble. ... He had a heart of gold — so sweet and loving.”

Jahfari Bullard was attending Central Georgia Technical College and was considering studying business and possibly joining the military.

His family nicknamed him “fat” because he was a big baby — the size of “a big whole Butterball” turkey — when he was born at 8 pounds and 2 ounces, his mom said.

He played basketball most nights at the gym at Williams Elementary School.

His friends called him “Young Brim.” His mom doesn’t know why. “Just a crazy nickname,” she said.

Bullard got a call from a friend about her son being shot. She left her home and went to the shooting scene — just a few blocks away.

She could only watch from a distance and stayed until an ambulance rolled away with her son.

He was out with friends when he was shot, she said.

Neighbor hears a ‘thump” in next apartment

Tony Jenkins, who lives in a nearby apartment on Ferguson Street, said he heard a “thump” Wednesday night. It came from the apartment next door. He thought it was somebody hitting the wall.

By the time he got his white, high-top Jordan sneakers on and got outside, he saw Jahfari Bullard lying on the street — almost block away from the intersection of Lamar and Ferguson streets where yellow crime scene tape had stretched across the road.

Packaging for a self-inflating resuscitation bag was discarded Thursday on the roadway where emergency medical workers had rendered aid to Bullard.

“I seen one bullet hole to the stomach,” said Jenkins, referring to Bullard’s wound.

He wondered if Bullard may have been shot inside the neighboring apartment and whether that was the noise he heard.

“I actually think they were playing with some damn guns,” Jenkins said. “They were all good friends.”

Semika Gaither, who lives nearby, said she was hard hit when she heard about the shooting.

Her six sons were friends with Bullard.

“He was always helping somebody,” Gaither said. “If I was taking out trash, he’d help.

“If I was taking my laundry to the car to go to a Laundromat, he would take the basket out of my hand. When I moved my furniture, he helped me move. ... He was the sweetest person. He never bothered nobody,” she said.

Gaither said her boys, who range in age from 9 to 19, are “really, really shook up.”

“I don’t know why anyone would want to shoot him,” she said.

The circumstances of the shooting were under investigation. An updated sheriff’s news release characterized the episode only as an “active homicide investigation.”

“We’ve had three homicides in three days,” Coroner Jones said.

Monday night, 37-year-old Michael Alvin Lewis of Macon was found shot to death in a yard along Forest Hill Road. He’d been shot in the back and chest.

Tuesday night, Norbert Volmar Jr., 36, of Macon was found shot dead at a boarding house on Roy Street by another resident. He was shot in the head.

Anyone with information about the shootings is urged to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500, or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 7:01 AM.