Homicide suspect in custody less than 12 hours after Macon’s latest killing

A homicide suspect is in custody less than 12 hours after Macon’s latest homicide.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Bibb County sheriff’s deputies handcuffed a young man at Pendleton Homes at about 11 a.m. Tuesday.

JA’Reyse Detrez Pollard was taken downtown for questioning in the shooting death of 17-year-old Pedro Garcia, who was shot to death just a few blocks away from the public housing neighborhood in the 3400 block of Houston Avenue.

Pollard, also 17, who lives at Cherry Tree Hill Apartments on Old Clinton Road, was charged with the murder, according to a Bibb County jail records.

Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said Garcia was pronounced dead at about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Garcia suffered a fatal gunshot wound at 696 Villa Crest Ave. where a section of crime scene tape remained tied to the front of the one-story brick house.

“The team’s been working through the night, piecing things together, connecting the dots,” Bibb County sheriff’s Capt. Shermaine Jones said as investigators were gathering evidence and preparing to tow away a gold Honda 4-door sedan that might have been used in the killing.

Jones said the suspect will be questioned as to the motive for the shooting, Bibb County’s 32nd homicide of 2018.

“We do know there’s other people that know what happened, that have seen what happened, so we’d really like for them to come in and talk to us, give us a little more insight on what’s going on, ” Capt. Jones said.

More arrests could be pending, but investigators need the cooperation of witnesses.

“We’re trying to stop all these violent crimes,” Capt. Jones said.

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss “another weekend of mayhem in Macon.”

Davis talked about the Garcia shooting and Saturday night’s fatal shooting of Michael Antwan Chapman, 30, of Macon.

The Chapman killing appears to have been “spur of the moment” over a “foolish argument, or foolish disagreement,” while Garcia may have been shot in a some sort of robbery or altercation between himself and his killer, Davis said.

Davis said authorities have identified a suspect, 18-year-old Dequaviouse Jamal Howard, who is wanted for questioning and remains at-large in connection to the Chapman shooting.

The two killings are indicative of a “troubling trend” in recent months of teenagers suspected in violent crimes, Davis said.

Investigators are finding that the troubled teenagers are connected to each other through friends, neighborhoods and social media, Davis said. While Davis suspects many are involved in gangs, he said the violence is not gang on gang.

Davis instead described it as “violent score-settlings.”

“It goes back to that ruthlessness, that lack of parental involvement, parental care ... These parents have these kids that are basically running their household, and we need to do what we can through the sheriff’s office and through the community,” Davis said.

“But I implore the larger community, the faith community, the nonprofit community, whoever, to reach out into some of these families, and make a difference in their lives and do something so that these 17-year-olds are not walking up and down the street carrying firearms and settling some petty score with violence,” he said.

Staff writers Becky Purser and Laura Corley contributed to this story.

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 12:31 PM.