Athens man arrested for alleged home invasion in which he assaulted ex, threatened others with rifle

Lewis Jabari Jones

By Joe Johnson

An Athens man was arrested Sunday for a home invasion that reportedly occurred last month at an eastside apartment complex.

According to an Athens-Clarke County police report, the incident happened early the morning of Nov. 13 in an apartment in the Appleby Drive complex after 32-year-old Lewis Jabari Jones of Old Will Hunter Road had a dispute with his ex-girlfriend, who lived there with roommates.

After Jones showed up uninvited, he began shouting at and shoving his former girlfriend until one of the roommates came to her defense and, according to the report, after a brief scuffle, forced Jones out of the apartment.

When leaving, Jones reportedly threatened to return with a gun, shouting,” You don’t know me, I just killed some dude in Morgan County, shoot him in the head.”

After Jones walked away, he soon returned to the apartment with a rifle, which he pointed through a bedroom window, its muzzle touching the head of a roommate who was trying to escape, according to the report which noted that after the window was slammed shut on him, Jones went to the front door and broke through it.

With Jones back inside the house with a weapon, the roommates escaped through a window while the ex-girlfriend called 911, according to the police report.

After Jones broke through her bedroom door, the 20-year-old woman said that he pointed the rifle at her, shouting, “You got those other people involved,” and after striking her they grappled over the gun, which the young woman was able to take and throw across to the other side of the room, according to the report.

The victim further alleged that Jones bit her finger while dragging her by the hair into another room. The police report noted that the woman was unable to use the finger and an officer saw that “there were clear teeth marks going almost to the bone.”

An officer later reviewed the victim’s 911 called and heard that Jones was attacking her during the call, according to the report, which indicated that the victim was able to call for police from a neighbor’s home.

When the first officers responded to the call, they saw the suspect’s vehicle speeding away from the scene, and while the report indicates that some officers chased after, they lost sight of the vehicle after it entered the Athens Perimeter from Oconee Street.

Police subsequently obtained warrants charging Jones with five counts of first-degree home invasion, three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of terroristic threats and acts, aggravated battery, two counts of criminal trespass/damage to property, felony fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer, hindering a 911 call, family violence simple battery, simple battery, and kidnapping.

Jones was booked into the jail 9n those charges when booked into jail Sunday.

A Magistrate Court judge denied him bond at a Monday morning hearing.