Sheriff Says Gang Prevention Starts at Home

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – It’s been a week since the shooting outside the Zodiac Lounge in downtown Macon left three people injured and one teenager dead.

At a vigil for 17-year-old Jamonni Bland Thursday, family and friends said they believed Macon has a problem and called for an end to the violence.

“When is it gonna stop?” asked Bland’s mother, Jackie Sanders.  “How many of our young children have to die at young ages like this?”

So how exactly does one put an end to it? Bibb County Sheriff David Davis says it takes the whole community.

“Police officers are not in these homes every day raising these young children,” he says.  “The community groups are there, the churches are there, the schools are there, the mamas and daddies are there.  They’re the ones that need to make an impact early to show that this type of behavior is not going to get you anywhere. It’s the kind of behavior that’s going to get you in the jail or in the graveyard.”

Davis says while it takes everyone working together, come January, the sheriff’s office will make sure it does its part.

“One of our sections that we’re calling is our Sheriff Outreach Section–sort of an S.O.S. for the community to be involved and do some things with our kids and even the adults through Neighborhood Watch and some things like that,” he says.

Police say Bland was an innocent bystander.  A week later, his friends wonder who’s next.

“We’re frightened,” says 17-year-old Tyshonia Simmons.  “We’re scared.  It seems like it ain’t going to end.”

Macon police have arrested five of the eight suspects they believed to be involved in this shooting.

They’re looking for Johnifer Barnwell, who has 10 previous Bibb County arrests; John Hollingshed, who has five previous arrests; and Jimmy Lee Scott III, who has 21 prior arrests.