Four jailed on murder charges in drive-by shooting death of 8-year-old Houston County boy
Four young people were jailed on murder charges Friday in the March 25 fatal drive-by shooting that claimed the life of an 8-year-old boy on the east side of Warner Robins.
In a statement posted on Facebook late Friday, Houston County sheriff’s officials announced the arrests in the death of Jermarrion Pachino Cherry.
At least three of the suspects, who range in age from 17 to 21, have criminal records.
Cherry was shot in the head while he was in a parked car with some other children at a home on Virginia Dare Drive in a neighborhood just south of Russell Parkway near Robins Air Force Base. He died Monday at an Atlanta children’s hospital.
Sheriff’s investigators have said a car rode past the automobile that Cherry was in and that “multiple shots were fired” from the passing car. An adult with the children had “just stepped away” from their car and “was several feet away” when the barrage began.
The four people arrested on murder charges were: Bryce Michael Crosby, 20, of Kathleen; Lenny Victor Gupton Jr., 19, of Warner Robins; Ricky Aubry McChargue, 21, of Warner Robins; and Savannah McGahee, 17, of Warner Robins. All were being held without bond.
A fifth suspect was said to have been identified and was being sought.
Investigators declined to provide details of what led them to arrest the suspects, nor have investigators mentioned a possible motive in the case.
Authorities did not say which ones, but three of the arrested were caught in Houston County and the fourth was taken into custody in White County in northeast Georgia.
Court records show that McChargue was serving a five-year sentence on probation in connection with a March 2020 arrest on a firearms possession and felony marijuana possession charges. In September, he was charged with violating his probation.
Crosby was arrested in November 2019 in a still-pending case on a charge of possession of schedule III, IV or V drugs.
Gupton was convicted in August 2020 of entering-auto charges and sentenced to five years on probation.
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 1:33 AM.