Macon on record-breaking pace for homicides in 2020

If the pace of homicides in Bibb County continues as it has for just over the past 100 days, the annual death toll will eclipse the modern-day high for the number of slayings, which was 43 in 1992.

So far this year, 20 people have been killed at the hands of others — if a vehicular-homicide that killed a 14-year-old and the shooting death of a pregnant woman whose unborn child also died are included in the count.

Homicide trends, however, are difficult to project. The present pace of one killing every five days or so since the first homicide of the year on Jan. 20 is unlikely to continue. (If it were to continue, the annual death toll would reach about 65, more than 20 more than the record number.)

Just twice in the past quarter-century has the death toll for Macon and Bibb reached 30, with 32 slain in 1994 and 30 in 2017.

That said, the past three years have been some of the deadliest in modern times. The 30 killed in 2017 were followed by 42 more in 2018 and 26 in 2019.

What’s causing this?

Explaining why this year’s homicide rate is for now higher than usual — or even attributing potential factors to it— isn’t easy. Investigators do not routinely divulge much publicly about the circumstances surrounding murder cases.

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis on Wednesday told The Telegraph that some of the more recent killings, while not directly attributable, could have at least tangential connections to the coronavirus crisis.

“I really do think that the mindset, the uncertainty ... does play a subliminal role in people’s actions,” he said.

Davis said about a third to half of the killings this year appear drug- or alcohol-related and that most of the others happened as a result of domestic disputes.

In late March on Moreland Avenue, a man allegedly gunned down three people related to the mother of his 2-year-old son, whom he is accused of kidnapping and taking to Florida before surrendering in a standoff with police. In late April, 19-year-old Passion Latrice Watkins was arrested and charged with shooting her pregnant stepmother.

“All of them, if you want to look at it from a society standpoint, all of them — just about every one of these (killings) — stems from a lack of hope and a lack of direction, and a great deal of impulsiveness,” Davis said.

“These numbers,” the sheriff added, “are very troubling and it is worrisome about what this trend tells us.”

He said critics might suggest they know ways to reduce the homicide rate.

“There will be people out there that’ll say, ‘Oh, I can stop that, I can stop these killings,’ and all like that,” Davis said. “I’ll tell you how you can stop them: with a job and with an education. That’s how you’re gonna stop this. That is one of the plagues of our community. Blighted conditions create blighted minds which create blighted actions.”

Historic pace

Perhaps the most troubling facet of this year’s pace is that, thus far, it exceeds that of past years when homicide rates hit or approached record numbers.

In 1992, when the death toll for the year was a modern-day record 43, the 15th killing didn’t happen until May 11.

In 2018, a year that saw 42 slain countywide, the 17th homicide of that year also happened May 11.

This year, even if the feticide and vehicular homicide are not included in the death tally, there have been 18 killings as of May 3. (All but four, authorities have said, have been cleared by arrest.)

“Many of these have been solved within a day,” Davis said.

2020 homicides

Here is a list of homicides this year:

1. Michael Lewis, Jan. 20
2. Norbert Volmar, Jan. 21
3. Jahfari Bullard, Jan. 22
4. Johntaves Coleman, Jan. 30
5. Deion Farley, Feb. 1
6. Michael Whitaker, Feb. 10
7. 14-year old in fatal car wreck, Feb. 12
8. Ashley Wease, Feb. 15
9. Imir Kent, March 10
10. La’Terry Kendrick, March 25
11. Janet Samuels, March 31
12. James Samuels, March 31
13. Kotwang Childs, March 31
14. Joe Woolfolk, April 9
15. Justin Mahone, April 14
16. Doug Boyd, April 19
17. Melanie Powers and her unborn child, April 26
18. Randall Head, April 30
19. Ashley Heberling, May 3

This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 1:00 AM.

Joe Kovac Jr.

The Telegraph

Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.