‘It’s a bad start’: Macon-Bibb community demands action after violent week

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Three homicides in three days has community members on edge. Some are even demanding action.

At the corner of Lamar Street and Ferguson Street Lane, 19-year-old Jahfari Bullard was shot and later died at the hospital.

There are also remnants of a defibrillator kit that first responders used to try and save his life.

“It’s a bad start. Not how we want to start the new year. It’s not how we want our community viewed as,”  said Captain Shermaine Jones with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

“Three nights, three homicides are way too much and way too soon,” said Belvin Ware, Macedonia youth minister.

After multiple nights of gun violence, community members are calling for immediate action to find a solution. Therefore, Ware is reaching out to everyone in Macon-Bibb.

“We have to go to where the issue is,” Ware said. “A lot of people are having a lot of different programs and a lot of different initiatives where they expect people to come to them. Even in the church, not everyone is going to walk through the door. So at some point, we have to realize that we need to hit the streets.”

Ware wants to hold a public meeting within the next week. He says as investigators work to find answers for families, the community needs to also assist in finding answers.

“We need to come together as a community to face this problem head-on and show we have a unified front at trying to make Macon better,” Ware said.

Ware is hosting a gun violence meeting next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Macedonia Church.

Captain Jones says the incidents aren’t related. Investigators have multiple leads on all three homicides.

Anyone with information

If you have any information about the homicides, call Crimestoppers at 1877-68-CRIME.