Two men sentenced to life after jury finds them guilty in teen’s shooting death
A Macon jury convicted two men this week of the murder of a 16 year old in 2021, the district attorney’s office said Friday.
Zontravion Hernandez and Vernon Gable were found guilty of the murder of Ahmori Searcy, 16, after both attempted to rob the teen of guns at the Majestic Garden apartment complex on March 3, 2021 and ended up shooting and killing him, according to District Attorney Anita Howard’s office, of the Macon Judicial Circuit.
It took the jury two hours to deliberate, they said.
Majestic Garden Apartments “is known as a hub for trading guns in the community,” the district attorney’s office said. Surveillance footage from a business nearby captured Hernandez and Gable in the area before the shooting and witnesses identifying them as perpetrators were used to convict them.
Hernandez was convicted of malice murder and aggravated assault charges, which lead to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for his malice murder charge, which will run concurrently with the 20-year sentence he received for his aggravated assault charge.
Grable was convicted of felony murder and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for his felony murder count and will serve his sentence concurrently with the 20-year sentence he received for his aggravated assault charge, the district attorney’s office said.
“This senseless act of violence took the life of a 16-year-old from our community,” said Howard. “While nothing can bring Ahmori back to his family and friends, we hope these convictions and sentences will bring some measure of justice and closure to his loved ones. We as a community must stand up and end this violence. Our children depend on us.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM.
