In the summer of 2018, the life of 18-year-old Joel Keshon Green, a male from Toccoa, Georgia, was cut short by a single gunshot to the head. On the afternoon of August 8th, Green was talking with a female in a vehicle at the corner of Franklin and South Alexander Streets when the fatal shot was fired. First responders found him and performed CPR before rushing him to Stephens County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into Green's death, led by the Toccoa Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, quickly pointed to a connection with criminal street gang activity. This was the second shooting in Toccoa in a short period, with another young man, Spencer Reason, having been shot and wounded just weeks earlier. Investigators determined that the two incidents were linked.
Within days of Green's death, authorities made their first arrests. Kentavius Broudmain Walker, 21, and Ty'Jai Trammel, 23, both from Toccoa, were taken into custody and charged with malice murder and felony murder. Walker was also implicated in the earlier shooting of Spencer Reason. As the investigation deepened, a third suspect, 29-year-old Demetrius Sanchez Smith, was arrested and charged with Green's murder. A fourth individual, 18-year-old Samantha Breanna George, was charged in connection with the shooting of Spencer Reason.
In August 2019, a Stephens County grand jury returned a true bill indictment against Walker, Smith, and George, which included a host of additional charges under the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. Walker faced charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and 24 counts of violating the street gang act. Smith was also indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, use of a firearm during a felony, and 22 counts of violating the street gang act. George faced charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and three counts of violating the street gang act.
The legal process brought different outcomes for the accused. In October 2021, a Stephens County jury found Kentavius Walker guilty of the murder of Joel Keshon Green. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the same trial, Demetrius Smith was found not guilty of Green's murder. However, Smith's freedom was short-lived. He was later convicted on separate charges of trafficking methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as violating the street gang act, and in January 2024, he pleaded guilty to additional charges related to a 2022 shooting, resulting in a lengthy prison sentence. The final disposition of the charges against Ty'Jai Trammel and Samantha Breanna George is not detailed in available online sources.
