Accused was ‘playing with a gun’ when friend fatally wounded, Bibb deputies say

A 21-year-old has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of his 19-year-old found lying on a Macon street Wednesday night with a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Germori Amel Mallory of Macon turned himself in Friday night to sheriff’s investigators. He was booked in the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center at 9:26 p.m. and was being held without bond Saturday on the felony charge.

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.

“It was reported that on the night of this incident, Mallory was playing with a gun and it discharged striking Bullard in the stomach,” Bibb County sheriff’s officials said in news release.

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.

Bullard had just turned a year older on Jan. 8, his family said.

He and the accused were good friends, said Ballard’s mom, Samantha Bullard.

“They’ve known each other forever,” said Bullard, who was at a funeral home Saturday making arrangements. “They hung with each other every day.”

She said she’s having trouble wrapping her mind around her son’s death and his friend’s alleged involvement. She said a 21-year-old is old enough to know better than to be playing around with a gun.

Bullard said Mallory called her Friday to apologize. Bullard said he told her that he’d made a bad decision and that he was playing with the gun. He told her that he’s hurting, too, because her son was like a brother to him, Bullard said.

She said she doesn’t know what to think.

The night of the shooting, Tony Jenkins, who lives in a nearby apartment on Ferguson Street, said he heard a “thump” from the apartment next door.

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

“I actually think they were playing with some damn guns,” Jenkins told the Telegraph on Thursday. “They were all good friends.”

Authorities have not released details about the circumstances of the shooting.

Involuntary manslaughter is defined by Georgia law as causing the the death of another “without any intention to do so by the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony.”

If convicted, the maximum penalty for involuntary manslaughter is 10 years in prison.

No one was at the Mallory home on Crescent Avenue when a Telegraph reporter stopped by Saturday afternoon.

This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 7:23 AM.