CLASSIC CITY NEWS

By Joe Johnson A Superior Court judge this week denied a request for bail by a man who killed two people and injured a third in downtown Athens Following a hearing on Wednesday, Judge H. Patrick Haggard denied bail to 22-year old Mark Anthony DeSousa on grounds that he was a flight risk and posed a significant danger to the community. In custody since March, DeSousa is facing murder charges for fatally shooting Dylan Bentley and Clayton Adams in a parking lot off North Jackso

By Joe Johnson A member of an Athens gang has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a 2024 drive-by shooting that killed a child at the Hallmark Estates mobile home park. Julian Omar Cubillos, a member of the Everybody Eats street gang last week pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for his involvement in the shooting that took the life of 3-year-old Kyron Zarco Smith. Cubillos had been in a car with three other EBE gangsters when they opened fire on a riv

By Joe Johnson Mark Douglas Fenley, 58, of Winder, was arrested on the afternoon of May 30th after threatened customers in the drive-thru line at Arby’s on West Broad Street. According to police, the driver of a pickup truck honked his horn at Fenley for pulling his truck in front of him in the drive-thru line, at which time Fenley got out and pointed a gun at him and his mother, who was a front seat passenger. When Fenley went to the side window of the pickup the driver aske

By Joe Johnson An Athens-Clarke County grand jury this week returned a 10-count indictment against a man accused of murdering two people and injuring a third during a shooting in downtown Athens last March. Mark Anthony Desousa, 22, of Jefferson, was charged with two counts each of malice and felony murder, and three counts each of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime, according to the indictment filed in Superior Court on Tuesday. DeSou

By Joe Johnson The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified the man killed this month during a confrontation with police in Athens as 33-year-old Joe Baythavong.of Hoschton. The incident happened on May 12 in the 1000 block of Hull Road when Athens police officers responded to reports of a man shooting a gun. Upon arrival they encountered Baythavong brandishing the weapon and ordered him to put it down, according to the GBI. “(Baythavong) then pointed the gun to his he

By Joe Johnson Julio Cesar Hernandez, 56, of Cherokee Road in Winterville, was arrested early the morning of May 10th after he reportedly stabbed another man outside of Tropical Bar on West Clayton Street, According to police, he stabbed 21-year-old Nelson Gomez of Smokey Road during a brawl between two groups of men outside the bar and tried several times to shoot another man but his gun failed to fire. Hernandez fled the scene but was arrested shortly afterwards after poli

By Joe Johnson On the afternoon of May 10th Sharod Pontes Greene called 911 to say that he had just shot his girlfriend. When officers arrived at the man’s home at Arbor Ridge apartments they found 34-year-old Latisha Andrews dead from gunshot wounds to her chest and head, according to a police report released today. Police have not released a motive for the shooting, but jail records indicate that the 52-year-.old killer was charged under the Georgia Family Violence Act with

By Joe Johnson Three members of the street gang known as Sex, Murder, Money have been indicted for an armed robbery earlier this year at a westside Athens apartment complex. Bobby Skii Coleman, 19, Tyshawn Matthew Chatman, 19, and Jaden Orion Wise, 18, were each charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, and criminal street gang activity, according to the indictment filed in Superior Court on Tuesday, Chatman was additionally charged with possession of a firearm during t

By Joe Johnson In the early morning of May 8th, Deandre and Jamarcus Grisson west to pick up their sister from her job at Pilgrim’s Pride. When they got there Jamaya Grisson climbed into the car to join her brothers and Makai Tucker, her boyfriend who went along for the ride. Jakel Arnold then arrived in a car with his cousin and upon getting out he tried talking to Jamaya, but she refused to speak with him. When he persisted the brothers intervened and an argument broke out

By Joe Johnson An Athens teenager died and his sister is hospitalized following a double shooting early Friday morning. The gunman was quickly identified by police and arrested. Athens-Clarke County police responded to reports of gunfire in the area of Rowe Road at approximately 5:49 am. Almost simultaneously, the hospital reported that two victims had arrived with gunshot wounds. Deandre Grisson, 17, died, and 18-year-old Jamya Grisson was treated for non- life threatening i

Elder (r) and Smith The following was released today by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office Defendants sentenced to life in prison ATHENS, GA – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr today announced that Shamon Elder, Jr. and Jaquavious Smith have been convicted for the murder of 19-year-old Brynarius Smith, who was shot and killed on April 16, 2022, while sitting on his front porch at Nellie B. Homes in Athens. Both men were found guilty by an Athens-Clarke County Jury on May

By Joe Johnson A man who was arrested last year for the alleged murder of his girlfriend has been indicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter. Kendall Elon Boone, 29, was charged with voluntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,making a false statement, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to the indictment filed in Superior Court on Monday. The grand jury did not indict him for malice murder, felony murder, or ag

By Joe Johnson An Athens man has been sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to shooting into the home of a former girlfriend when her young children were present. Zapond Charbijus Byrd, 22, of Parkview Extension, was given a total sentence of 25 years, with the first six years to be served in prison and the balance on probation. The incident happened in April 2025 when Byrd went to the woman’s home on Broadacres Court and shot into her apartment when she, h

By Joe Johnson The man who was charged on Friday with murdering an Athens homeless camp resident is on probation for a first-degree arson conviction in Fulton County, Joshua Robert White, 30, was charged with murder for the death of 42-year-old Rodney Alford in a homeless camp near Danielsville and Hull roads, Police believe that Alfred had been fatally shot about a week ago and an officer found his body in a tent while looking for a suspect in an unrelated case. A detective

Heather is informed that Jeremy had died By Joe Johnson Heather Nicole McCall in December pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of 31-year-old Jeremy Howard at her home on Nowhere lRoad in 2024. She was sentenced to four years in prison and six on probation. Heather in prison McCall and Howard had formerly been in a romantic relationship that involved domestic violence. After the shooting McCall explained to police that her landlord had told Howar

By Joe Johnson Jabarris Lamar Brown Jr. has become the first person in Athens to be convicted and sentenced under the new state drive-by shooting law, In addition to convicting him of that crime, a jury found the 19-year-old guilty of five counts of aggravated assault and one count of making terroristic threats, The drive-by shooting law went into effect in July 2025 and the penalty for conviction is a minimum prison sentence of five years and a maximum of 20. Superior Court

By Joe Johnson Akasha Niema Brooks, 23, of Whitehead Road, was arrested on the night of April 8th for allegedly shooting at a 27-year-old resident at Rolling Ridge Apartments. The victim said that she and Brooks had an earlier confrontation during a road rage incident. Brooks was charged with aggravated assault. A Magistrate Court judge on April 10th granted Brooks $7,000 bail, barred her from from the victim’s apartment complex, and ordered her to undergo mental health eval

By Joe Johnson Members of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department’s Crisis Negotiation Team last week responded to a mutual aid request from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office involving a standoff with an armed man, Identified as 30-year-old Lavonia resident Alan Joseph Chandler. “Negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful and Chandler was involved in a law enforcement involved shooting and died as a result,” according to a report by the negotiating team. The Georgia Bur

By Joe Johnson Police are investigating a man’s complaint that another driver pointed a gun at him in a road rage incident on Atlanta Highway last week The 47-year-old Winder resident said it happened at around 6 pm in the area of the Georgia Square mall and the suspect was driving a box truck which, according to police, was registered to Bad Wolf Trucking in McDonough. The victim managed to take a photo of the driver, which police sent to the trucking company for their inves

By Joe Johnson The man who shot his former girlfriend inside a Baxter Street dentist office last year has pleaded not guilty to an attempted murder charge. Carl Eugene Clark, 74, of Winterville Road, tried to kill 47–year-old Sheila Mobley in December when he went to her job at McRae Family Dental and shot her multiple times in the chest and face. She survived and Clark later shot himself in the face in a failed suicide attempt, Huwas arrested and subsequently charged in a