Macon man gets 20 years for firing 11 shots at car carrying teenagers
Prosecutors say Harris fired at a fleeing car after a confrontation involving a stolen phone and Cash App transfer. Tavias Williams died after being shot.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A man convicted of firing 11 shots at a car carrying teenagers during a dispute over a phone and $100 was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.
According to the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, a jury convicted Tajiri Harris of five counts of aggravated assault. Prosecutors sought a total sentence of 100 years, or 20 years on each count.
The shooting happened April 26, 2022, in the Academy Sports parking lot on Eisenhower Parkway.
According to the district attorney’s office, a group that included teenagers ages 13 to 15 and a 21-year-old went to the store to meet Harris’s sister. They say she had taken the 21-year-old’s phone and used it to send herself $100 through Cash App.
Prosecutors say Harris told his sister to arrange the meeting at Academy Sports and arrived before the group.
When the group arrived, Harris’s sister and her boyfriend rushed the car, spitting on and punching the driver, according to the release.
As the car pulled away, Harris fired 11 shots. Investigators recovered 11 shell casings and found eight bullet markings on the vehicle.
The group drove to Southwest High School on Williamson Road, where a deputy responding to a report of a person shot found 15-year-old Tavias Williams wounded in the back seat. The deputy performed CPR until EMS arrived. Williams died of his injuries.
The district attorney’s office says Harris initially lied to investigators about his location. Witnesses, including his sister, placed him at Academy Sports, and a forensic analysis of his phone placed him at the scene when the shooting happened.
Three bullets that struck Williams were fired by a gun later found at Harris’s home, according to prosecutors.
Harris testified at trial that he acted in self-defense when he shot at the fleeing car. The district attorney’s office says witness testimony confirmed the teens had a gun in the vehicle during the confrontation, but no weapon was found.
“A dispute over a phone and $100 ended with a young man dead and another serving 20 years in prison,” District Attorney Anita Howard said. “This situation should have had a very different outcome.”
Howard also said several witnesses refused to cooperate or tell the truth during the investigation, which made it difficult for jurors to determine what happened.