Crime

Man dies of ‘multiple gunshot wounds’ in east Macon shooting, Bibb County coroner says

A 30-year-old man was shot to death Thursday afternoon at an east Macon apartment complex, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said.

The homicide was the county’s fifth in 14 days and the 24th of the year.

The shooting victim, Keonta Quintez Rouse Jr., who suffered “multiple gunshot wounds,” was found shortly after 1 p.m. outside Building 30 at River Park Apartment Homes at 720 Tidewater Circle, the coroner said.

The apartments are behind the Baconsfield Kroger off North Avenue near Interstate 16 and the Ocmulgee River.

What prompted the fatal gunfire was not immediately known.

There were some discrepancies early on about Rouse’s age, but multiple court documents and prison records show that he was born in February 1992 and that his nickname was “Black Moe.”

He was released from prison two years ago after serving about five years on a theft-by-receiving conviction from a case in 2010.

The scene of a fatal shooting at River Park Apartment Homes on Tidewater Circle in east Macon on Thursday, May 19, 2022.
The scene of a fatal shooting at River Park Apartment Homes on Tidewater Circle in east Macon on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The Telegraph / Jason Vorhees

On a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Rouse, the last post was made at 12:48 p.m. Thursday.

Less than half an hour later, at 1:12 p.m., someone called 911 to report that shots had been fired on Tidewater Circle.

On May 26, based on a Crimestoppers tip, U.S. Marshals and Bibb County Sheriff’s investigators and patrol deputies arrested Brian Christopher Horton Jr., 27 of Macon, at a Merriwood Drive apartment.

Horton was eventually charged with murder and is being held without bond at the Bibb County jail on that charge and other outstanding warrants.

A deadly month

Twenty-two of Macon’s 24 homicides in 2022 have been the result of gunshot wounds. Six of the year’s violent deaths happened in January. Six more, including the shooting death of an armed Florida man by police along Interstate 75, were in February.

Four were in March and three were in April. Thursday’s slaying was the county’s fifth this month.

This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 2:01 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.
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