In the winter of 2022, the Augusta, Georgia community was shaken by the violent deaths of two lifelong friends. On the evening of Friday, January 14, 27-year-old Raven Michelle Tolbert and her best friend, Mercedes Nora Shanice Gibson, also 27, were shot and killed. The two women were at a residence on Hammond Avenue when the tragic events unfolded. A third woman was also shot during the incident but survived her injuries.
Several children were present in the home at the time of the shooting but were physically unharmed.
The incident was quickly deemed a domestic-related double murder by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Investigators identified 26-year-old Tarrez Latrell Booker as the suspect in the killings. Booker was reportedly in a relationship with one of the victims. He had a significant criminal history, including a ten-year prison sentence for an armed robbery he committed as a teenager. After his release, he had multiple run-ins with the law and was out on bond for drug and gang-related activities at the time of the murders.
In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 15, authorities tracked Booker to a room at the Gordon Inn and Suites. As investigators and deputies approached his hotel room, they heard a single gunshot from inside. The SWAT team was called to the scene and, upon entering the room, discovered Booker deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death brought an end to the immediate search for the man suspected of ending the lives of the two young mothers.
