‘My son just killed someone,’ mother of Forsyth Walmart shooting suspect told cops
As police rushed to the scene of a shooting inside the Walmart Supercenter in Forsyth on Sunday evening, a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy who was among those answering the call happened upon a black SUV in the store’s parking lot.
The sun had just set and a woman who’d been in the SUV waved a flashlight to get the attention of deputy Shania Hawkins.
Hawkins hadn’t known it at the time, but moments earlier, according to the GBI, a fight between two 17-year-old boys had ended in gunfire as one of the youths allegedly shot and killed the other.
Now the woman with the flashlight, later identified in an incident report as Sonya Lavette Bowden, began yelling, “My son just killed someone. He’s in my car.”
Deputy Hawkins and an officer from the county jail who happened to be in the parking lot then “grabbed the suspect and took him to the ground,” said the incident report, a copy of which was obtained by The Telegraph.
Charges were still pending Monday against the suspect, Tarmaine Jontavion “T.J.” Bowden, who allegedly told the deputies arresting him that the other teen had “tried to shoot me first.”
The other youth, Cedric James Mayes, of Forsyth, died at the scene.
Investigators have said that Mayes and Bowden were arguing in the produce section of the store at 180 N. Lee St., just west of the main Interstate 75 interchange at the edge of downtown Forsyth.
The teens’ dispute apparently spilled over into the supermarket’s frozen food section where Bowden allegedly drew a pistol and shot Mayes “several times,” Monroe sheriff’s officials later said in a statement.
As he was being handcuffed Sunday evening, Bowden apparently told deputy Hawkins that the gun was in his pants, her report noted.
The type of pistol was not mentioned in the write-up but it was described as “loaded (with) bullets in the magazine.”
It remained unclear Monday afternoon what prompted the deadly clash inside the store or how Mayes and Bowden happened upon one another.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 4:43 PM.