Macon man wanted for three months arrested, charged with involuntary manslaughter

A Macon man wanted for more than three months was jailed Thursday in connection with a fatal October shooting, Bibb County sheriff’s officials said.

Brandon Niadrian Neal, 24, was arrested at about 2 p.m. on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the Oct. 8 killing of Tommy Williams, 56, according to a sheriff’s statement.

After seeing Neal go into a house in the 3000 block of Napier Ave., deputies went inside and searched the home, which according to an arrest warrant was where Neal’s mother, Tamona Howard, lived.

Howard, 41, was also arrested and charged with hindering her son’s apprehension, the warrant said.

Officials have said the Oct. 8 shooting that killed Williams also left Neal injured after a confrontation at a house on the 1400 block of Bailey Avenue, a few blocks west of Pio Nono Avenue.

According to a sheriff’s report, security camera footage showed Neal and Williams arguing outside the house where a crowd had gathered. Investigators say both men pulled guns when the argument escalated, shooting each other. Neal was then said to have left the scene and gone to his house on nearby Napier Avenue.

Bullets struck both men in the chest and leg.

Williams later died at a local hospital. Neal talked to deputies at his house before he was hospitalized. He told a deputy that Williams was “following him around (and) pointing a pistol at him” that night, according to a sheriff’s report.

Neal reportedly said Williams “fired at him and then he shot back.”