Suspect in teen's killing arrested at Macon Waffle House

A young man wanted in last week's slaying of a 14-year-old Macon girl was arrested Monday on murder and aggravated assault charges.

Terrance Rashad Hampton, 18, had been sought over the weekend in connection with what police were calling a gang-related shooting on Dec. 13.

Macon Regional Crimestoppers received a tip on Hampton's whereabouts, and he was arrested shortly before noon at the Waffle House restaurant at 840 Riverside Drive, not far from Spring Street in downtown Macon.

Hampton, according to jail records, had been in the Bibb County lockup less than a month before the girl's death. In that case, he was arrested in Macon the night of Nov. 16.

Records show that Hampton at the time was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two other weapons charges, including having a sawed-off shotgun.

Hampton was released from the county jail Nov. 18 after posting $7,570 bond.

On Friday, the 5-foot-5, 145-pound Hampton was named as a suspect in the fatal drive-by shooting of Ta'shuntis "Tootie" Roberts on Dec. 13.

Roberts was shot through the wall of a house on Lindwood Drive, north of Rocky Creek Road off Bloomfield Drive near Rice Elementary School. Hampton's arrest record lists his home address as 4011 Shearwater Drive, less than half a mile away.

Hampton's booking file says he has tattoos that read "Loyalty," "Angel," "God Gift" and "Laugh Now Later."

A Bibb sheriff's official said the county's gang investigators and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force had been "working relentlessly" all weekend to find Hampton.

His Nov. 16 arrest happened shortly before midnight on the north side of Macon's Unionville neighborhood.

According to a sheriff's report, Hampton and two other young men were riding "at a fast pace" in a 2014 Dodge Journey near the intersection of Ernest and Churchill streets, between Montpelier and Napier avenues. The driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and a sheriff's deputy pulled the van over.

Hampton was riding in the back of the van, and a deputy noted that while he was talking to the driver he noticed the passengers "moving around and fidgeting. The passengers looked nervous."

When officers searched the van they found a .380-caliber pistol under one of the seats and a sawed-off, 20-gauge shotgun somewhere else in the van.

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Suspect in teen's killing arrested at Macon Waffle House ."