Police say a “lovers quarrel” was at the center of a fatal shooting that started with three teenagers’ plans to egg someone’s house.
In a news release, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia said that the three individuals involved in the shooting—identified as Svdney Maughon (18), Jeremy Munson (18), and McKenzie Davenport (19)—initially showed up at the home of eventual victim Johnathan Gilbert (also referred to as Tyler Lane) with designs on egging his residence. Those plans took a shocking and violent turn, however, when Gilbert—who was not armed—stepped outside.
Deputies first showed up at the scene of the fatal shooting to find Gilbert dead “in the roadway” near the Dobbins Mill Road area. After speaking with a witness, investigators were pointed to potential suspects in the shooting, at which point they tracked a phone to a Henry County residence. After securing a search warrant, authorities pinpointed a car and a weapon used in the crime before eventually zeroing in on a trio of suspects.
"It appears that there was an ongoing lovers quarrel, and the suspects decided to go to Gilbert's residence on Dobbins Mill and vandalize it by egging it," Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said. "When Gilbert saw what they were doing to his residence, he came out of the house unarmed, to confront them. The suspects ran back to the car, and as Gilbert approached them, Sydney Maughon, a backseat passenger in the car, produced a firearm and shot him multiple times. The suspects then drove away leaving Gilbert dead in the middle of Dobbins Mill Road."
Maughon, Munson, and Davenport have all three been charged with malice murder in connection with the shooting.
“Together they bought that ticket; now together they can ride that ride,” Dix said.
The latest incident of gun violence in Georgia follows word last month that a gun store owner in the state had decided to close his doors in response to the ongoing, nationwide issue of mass shootings. Jon Waldman, the owner of Georgia Ballistics in the Duluth area, told WXIA-TV at the time that closing up his business was “more important” to him than anything else.
