An argument over $14 resulted in fatal Halloween shooting, court hearing reveals

A dispute over $14 escalated on Halloween night, resulting in a man’s shooting death, authorities testified at a commitment hearing for his alleged killer Thursday.

Stewart Leslie Gordon Jr., 38, had been arguing with a man named Steve, who lives at the house on Burton Avenue where the shooting happened.

Jace Jenkins, the alleged killer, “didn’t really have a dog in the fight,” Bibb County sheriff’s investigator Carlos Stokes testified in Magistrate Court. “He wasn’t part of the $14 (dispute) on either side.”

Witnesses reported seeing the 21-year-old fire a bullet into Gordon’s chest. Jenkins also admitted shooting Gordon, Stokes said.

Floyd Buford, Jenkins’ lawyer, asked Stokes if any of the witnesses had mentioned that Gordon was armed with a knife or blade at the time of the shooting.

“He did actually pull a knife out after (Jenkins) brandished a firearm,” Stokes responded, adding that deputies found a knife at the scene.

Buford asked how far Jenkins was from Gordon when the fatal shot was fired.

Stokes said Gordon was shot near a sidewalk, and Jenkins was standing at the front of a car that was parked in the front yard.

Buford asked if there was any indication that Gordon was “doped up on all kinds of drugs” that night. Stokes said he did not know for certain.

“Everybody at the house was involved in drugs, even the accused,” Stokes said. “He advised he used meth earlier in the day.”

Buford pointed out that Jenkins, unlike Gordon, does not have a criminal history.

Jones County sheriff’s records show that Gordon was arrested at least eight times since 2000 on charges ranging from family violence and drugs to theft and aggravated assaults.

Stokes said Jenkins told him that night that he had shot Gordon “because he was scared for his life.”

“Did you consider that it was justifiable self-defense on the part of Mr. Jenkins?” Buford asked Stokes.

“I think that would be a determination for the courts to make,” Stokes said, adding that Jenkins and others involved in the argument had followed Gordon out of the house as he tried to escape the situation.

Buford asked Magistrate Court Judge Barbara Harris if she would dismiss the case.

“We just think the evidence is woefully insufficient to carry a charge of murder,” Buford said.

The judge disagreed and said she would bind over the case to Bibb County Superior Court.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "An argument over $14 resulted in fatal Halloween shooting, court hearing reveals."