A group of teens accused of being involved in a shootout say they were stopped for speeding early Saturday with two bleeding buddies in the back seat.
A Georgia State Patrol Trooper gave the driver a ticket, but the teen behind the wheel failed to mention Montaego Deshun Maxwell Jr. was dying in the back seat of the Toyota Camry with dark tinted windows.
Maxwell, 18, of Warner Robins, was pronounced dead at 3:19 a.m. at Medical Center, Navicent Health, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said.
His death marks the county’s fourth homicide of the year.
He and Antonio Deshon Woodard, 18, of Macon, were wounded in a shootout with a 15-year-old they allegedly tried to rob on Walnut Street near Forest Avenue just after 12:25 a.m., according to a Bibb sheriff’s news release.
As Woodard and Maxwell were wheeled into the emergency room, Ricky Bernard Lowder Jr., 19, of Lynmore Circle, and Darius Artellis Lowder, 19, of Plaudit Road in Lizella, who was driving the car, were taken into custody.
According to the news release, the four men were in a white Camry driving down Walnut Street when they pulled up next to the younger teen.
The two in the backseat got out demanding the kid’s money, but when he didn’t hand it over, he was shot several times. The juvenile pulled out a gun and shot back, hitting Woodard and Maxwell.
“He was shot multiple times,” Jones said of Maxwell who suffered the fatal wounds.
The teen ran to a Roosevelt Avenue house with the porch light on as the wounded 18-year-olds got back into the car that sped off to the hospital.
The Lowders, who are cousins, were booked into the Bibb County jail on armed robbery and murder charges.
Saturday afternoon in Bibb County Magistrate Court, both Lowders asked Judge Edgeley Myers for a commitment hearing to explain the charges against them.
Woodard will be jailed on the same charges once he’s released from the hospital.
He is in critical but stable condition, the release stated.
The wounded 15-year-old also is being treated at the Medical Center, where he is in stable condition.
Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Michael Burns said chain of events is in dispute.
Burns said he pulled over Darius Lowder just before 11:50 p.m. Friday at the corner of Vineville and Rogers avenues.
“My gut feeling is (the shooting) hadn’t happened yet,” Burns told The Telegraph Saturday afternoon. “Because they were too calm.”
Burns said his records show he was back in service at 12:01 a.m. and heard the shooting dispatched on the radio when he got downtown, but had no idea at the time that the Camry he just stopped was involved.
Investigators will review Burns’ dashcam and time stamp to sort out whether the shooting happened immediately before or after the traffic stop.
Either way, “It blows my mind,” Burns said.
Sheriff’s deputies are asking anyone with information about the case to call them at 478-751-7500 or phone anonymous tips to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.
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