Macon teens charged in slayings of two store clerks

Two teenagers accused of killing two store clerks during stick ups earlier this month were arrested Friday.

Jeremy Jerome Kendrick, 17, and Arie Calloway, 16, each are charged with two counts of murder and two counts of armed robbery, according to a news release from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

The pair allegedly tried to rob the Gulf Mart on Napier Avenue on the morning of Aug. 14. Calloway is accused of shooting the clerk, Alpeshkumar Prajapati, just after Prajapati opened the store for the day, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said. The 36-year-old died on the floor.

Then, a week later, late night Aug. 21, the pair went to rob Market Place #5 at Vineville and Holt avenues, Davis said. Kendrick shot 21-year-old Waqar Ali in the chest, the sheriff said. Ali was taken to the Medical Center, Navicent Health and was pronounced dead hours later.

The teens were arrested off Rocky Creek Road in south Macon just after 12 a.m. Friday with help from the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Kendrick was booked into the Bibb County jail and was denied bond during his first appearance in Magistrate Court.

Calloway was booked into the Macon Regional Youth Detention Center. His first appearance occurred Friday morning in Bibb County Superior Court, and bond was not discussed. The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice refused to provide Calloway’s mug shot to The Telegraph, citing policy.

Kendrick was a student at Central High School, and Calloway attended Westside High School.

Davis said it was unclear how the boys knew each other, but it isn’t the first time their names have appeared on the radar for law enforcement.

“This was for personal gain,” Davis said of the deadly robberies. “We’re looking at the type of individual now that will shoot somebody and then go to school afterward and not even think anything about it. It’s the callousness of the type of individuals that we’re dealing with.”

Parents of both boys were cooperative with the investigation. Davis said the teens were “out-of-control.”

“The adults in their lives had some trouble with them. ... It’s like they’re at their wit’s end,” the sheriff said. “In some ways, the parents are victims themselves.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 12:47 PM.