Macon teen found shot dead in wooded lot near Houston Avenue and Rocky Creek Road
Neighbors on a street below Rocky Creek Road in south Macon say they frequently hear gunfire, and on Tuesday a woman who lives there wondered if a series of shots she heard just after nightfall Monday may have left a teenage boy dead.
Shortly before noon Tuesday, Bibb County sheriff’s deputies were informed that a boy’s body had been found in a wooded lot along Pinson Street, a block and a half south of Rocky Creek Road. The scene lies just west of Houston Avenue.
The boy was believed to have been about 15.
Deputies soon learned that he had been shot “several” times, according to a sheriff’s statement. As of midday Tuesday, the boy’s name was being withheld until his mother could be reached.
It was not immediately known when the teen may have been shot or how long his body may have lying been near a tree-lined dirt path that runs through the lot between Pinson and Houston.
A woman who lives on Hillridge Drive around the corner said she heard shots about 7 p.m. Monday.
Deputies collected bullet shell casings from an area surrounding the scene, including the parking lot at the long-shuttered Weir Elementary School up the street. It was not known whether the casings were connected to the boy’s death.
Chief Deputy Coroner Lonnie Miley told reporters that the boy’s death was “an apparent homicide” and that a pending autopsy would reveal more.
He said it was difficult to gauge how long the boy may have been dead.
“We don’t know what the circumstances around this (are),” Miley said. “But unfortunately it is a young man, a very young man.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 2:53 PM.