Party at south Macon home turns deadly. Victim remembered as a ‘family man’

A party at a south Macon residence turned deadly when three males entered the house and started shooting late Friday, authorities say.

Zarkia Frazier, 44, of Macon, was pronounced dead at 12:03 a.m. Saturday in the Emergency Room of the Medical Center, Navicent Health, said Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.

Frazier, a mechanic at 360 Automotive Group in Macon, had worked there for about a month, said owner Larry Harris.

“This is just a shock to know that he was killed in such a tragic way,” Harris said. “He was not the partying type, I don’t think.

“I don’t know him outside of work, but for the most part from when I’ve been around him these past ... weeks, he’s a great family man ... and puts the kids first,” Harris said.

Harris also described Frazier as having been a quiet man who had kept to himself and was self-sufficient.

Frazier moved from south Florida to Macon about 15 years ago with three girls to raise on his own, family members said.

The children’s mother later joined him, they married and now have six children. Frazier also has two other children, who live in Florida, from a previous relationship.

“I just liked the way his determination was,” said his cousin, Harry Jones. “Seems like the odds were always against him, but he always rose above them.”

Frazier lost half a foot in a work-related injury as a young adult and wore a prosthetic, family members said.

“He just keep going,” said Jones, noting that the injury didn’t keep Frazier down.

“Even though he came to Macon with his children and didn’t know anyone ... he provided for them three girls, sent them to school, dressed them, combed their hair, fed ‘em and taught ‘em well.”

Frazier’s aunt, Marilyn Johnson, also described him as a “family man.”

“He was a good person: a man that loved his family, loved his children and took care of them,” Johnson said by telephone.

“He rose from many obstacles that he encountered,” she added via a text message. “A self-taught mechanic and body man, any job he did, he took pride in doing so.”

His wife of 10 years, Latoya Frazier, said he was was a “good father” who “loved his kids.”

He was “outgoing, funny ... a peacemaker,” she said.

Their children range in age from 2 to 21.

The family said they did not know any details surrounding the shooting.

Second person also shot

Gary Tyrone Taylor, 41, of Macon, was also shot in the same incident, Bibb County sheriff’s Sgt. Clay Williams said in an email. Taylor was listed in stable condition Saturday at the Medical Center.

At 11:15 p.m., deputies responded to a 911 call of two people shot at a residence in the 3300 block of Antioch Road.

They were told that “three black males wearing dark clothing entered the house and started shooting” during the party, according to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Both Taylor and Frazier were rushed to the hospital. Taylor was shot once, and Frazier twice, Williams said.

The shooters, whose faces were covered, fled the scene before deputies arrived, Williams said.

The killing marks the 22nd homicide this year for Macon-Bibb, according to Jones. In 2018, 41 people lost their lives in homicides in Macon-Bibb.

Anyone with information about Friday night’s shooting 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 November 16, 2019 at 10:56 AM.