Crime

18-year-old suspect in Macon apartment slaying jailed after talking to cops on phone

An 18-year-old Macon man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 49-year-old man at a west Macon apartment complex last month.

Bibb County sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service had been looking for the suspect, Thomas Samuel Pate.

Sometime Wednesday they reached Pate by phone and persuaded him to turn himself in at the county’s criminal-investigations bureau on Third Street.

Pate is thought to be the fourth person arrested in connection with the Nov. 22 slaying of a man investigators believe was robbed and shot at Riverbend Apartments on Mercer University Drive.

The victim in the shooting, Romero Gonzalez, was found lying beside an automobile, investigators have said.

Pate, of a Lucerne Drive address about half a mile from the shooting scene, was charged with murder and being party to a crime.

He was being held without bond at the county lockup.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:37 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.
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