Crime

Man arrested in shooting, wounding of Macon boy, 7, hit by bullet fired into apartment

A Macon man was recently jailed in connection with the March shooting and wounding of a 7-year-old boy who was struck by a bullet fired through an apartment wall.

The suspect, Eric Jerel Hill, was named in an arrest warrant issued June 15 by a Bibb County judge.

Hill, 29, was booked into the county jail about a month later on July 12 on charges that included aggravated assault in the boy’s shooting.

The boy, 7, was in the wake of the shooting being treated at an Atlanta hospital. An update on his condition Monday, some four-and-a-half months later, was not immediately available.

The arrest warrant in the case said Hill shot into an apartment at Green Meadows Townhomes at 3867 Log Cabin Drive where the boy was inside the night of March 12.

What may have prompted the gunfire or whether the apartment had been the intended target was not clear.

“A vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s was seen at the shooting and he was the main suspect in the case,” the warrant states, adding that in mid-June “records were obtained ... that conclusively placed the suspect at the scene.”

The warrant does not elaborate, but it was possible the records noted in the warrant involved cellphone data, which investigators now frequently rely on to zero on in suspects’ whereabouts at the time of crimes.

This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 3:29 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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