MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A shooting at the Riverbend Apartments in Milledgeville early Friday morning sent three people to the hospital and led to a manhunt.
13WMAZ’s reporter Jessica Cha spent the day working to contact city officials and police about the continuing violence at Riverbend. All we got was a police release with the latest details on the shooting more than 12 hours after it happened.
We went out there to learn more about what happened and spoke to neighbors about the incident.
"We're just shocked that it was right outside our window,” Kelley Smith says.
Smith has lived at Riverbend for the past year. She says her kids told her there was something going on outside.
"We didn't really hear the actual gunshots, but we heard the sirens and all the commotion outside,” she says.
Police say a shootout happened at the apartments just before 1 a.m. A blue Pontiac G6 left the Riverbend apartments right after. Georgia College Police tried to pull the car over, but it sped off heading towards Navicent Health Baldwin.
Ne'Tobia Williams got out of the car and laid on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest. Police believe he was shot earlier at Riverbend Apartments.
"We've had so much crime and stuff here in Milledgeville lately that it was just a matter of time before it happened here,” Kelley explains.
After dropping Williams off at the hospital, the car sped off and eventually crashed with the driver then running away. Private cars drove two other men to the hospital. They're believed to be involved in the shooting.
"You know, there's a lot of children over here. This is a community for a lot of single mothers or single fathers who need places to stay for their children, so it's a scary situation when stray bullets can come through,” she says.
Smith says that now she’s teaching her children how to protect themselves in case something like this happens again.
“It’s becoming more of a common thing with the schools and everything else. They’re having to learn it at home now, too. It’s sad for our future– these children having to live in fear.”
Smith says the neighborhood is usually peaceful, but her 9-year-old daughter Cadence notices it gets rowdy when non-residents come over.
"People will come over like on the weekends and stuff and they'll be doing something like that,” she says.
The man shot in the chest was in critical condition after getting flown to Macon. One of the other two men was released, the third is recovering at an Athens hospital.
Anyone with any information can call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.