Crime

Man shot dead outside Loaves & Fishes Ministry in Macon in county’s first homicide of 2022

A Bibb County sheriff’s patrol car parked along an alley beside the Loaves & Fishes Ministry at 651 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in downtown Macon on Tuesday in the wake of a fatal shooting there.
A Bibb County sheriff’s patrol car parked along an alley beside the Loaves & Fishes Ministry at 651 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in downtown Macon on Tuesday in the wake of a fatal shooting there. jkovac@macon.com

A 45-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon at the Loaves & Fishes Ministry, a homeless outreach center in downtown Macon.

Details of what may have prompted the shooting were not immediately available, but Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said the victim was found in an alley beside the ministry with a gunshot wound to his chest.

The victim, Carlos Antonio Gordon, of Macon, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital about half an hour after the 1:54 p.m. shooting.

The well-known ministry at 651 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. — between Plum and Pine streets — was formed in 1967 and is affiliated with several local churches.

Bibb sheriff’s officials later said in a statement that “two male individuals were involved” in the incident and that the man who was not shot was being questioned by investigators. 30-year-old John Paul Sewell was later arrested and charged felony murder and aggravated assault.

A man who answered the door at the ministry about an hour after the shooting declined to comment.

The slaying was the city’s first homicide of 2022 and the tenth shooting death here in the past 55 days.

Last year saw a modern-day record of homicides countywide with 54 such deaths — 45 of which, according to investigators, were deemed murders.

This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 3:46 PM.

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.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER