On a late February evening in 2019, a tragic event unfolded on a quiet road in Stockbridge, Georgia. Seventeen-year-old Larry Bernard Bryant, a male from Atlanta, was visiting a female friend. As they walked together along Springwood Valley Road around 10 p.m., a light-colored car approached them. An exchange of words, described by authorities as a dispute, quickly escalated into a violent and fatal encounter. Gunshots rang out from the vehicle in what police believe was a targeted attack, and Larry Bernard Bryant was struck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His companion was not physically harmed in the incident.
The investigation into the shooting death of the teenager led Henry County police to three suspects who were arrested in April of that year. The individuals taken into custody were 21-year-old Brendan Tucker Norris, 18-year-old Christopher Elijah Womack, and a 15-year-old girl. The identities of all three were released, though the case against one of them took a different turn as the legal process moved forward.
As the case progressed through the judicial system, murder charges against one of the initially charged individuals were eventually dropped. Christopher Elijah Womack, however, continued to face a murder charge in connection with the death of Larry Bernard Bryant. Court records indicated that a trial for Womack was tentatively scheduled for December of the same year as his arrest. The juvenile, identified in court documents as Paris Powell, underwent questioning by detectives multiple times in the weeks following the shooting. A court later suppressed a portion of her statements, ruling that they were not made voluntarily.
