On a Sunday afternoon, May 6, 2018, the life of Tavares Lester, a 38-year-old Black male, was tragically cut short in Macon, Georgia. Lester was found with a gunshot wound to his back, lying in the driveway of the Econo Lodge on Riverside Drive where he had been staying. Emergency services were called to the scene around 3:30 p.m. following reports of shots fired, but by the time they arrived, Lester had already succumbed to his injuries. His death marked the 15th homicide in Bibb County for that year.
The investigation into Lester's death quickly led law enforcement to two individuals. The day after the shooting, authorities arrested 26-year-old Rashad Marquez Mays in connection with the killing. Shortly thereafter, a second man, 30-year-old Christopher Brandon Kirby, was also taken into custody and charged with murder. Investigators learned that both Mays and Lester had been staying at the Econo Lodge at the time of the incident. The relationship between Lester and the two men charged in his death was not immediately made clear to the public.
Subsequent legal proceedings revealed a heated argument between Lester and Mays, who had been best friends, on the day of the shooting. The dispute began inside the motel room where Mays was living with his girlfriend and escalated into a physical altercation in the breezeway outside. Security camera footage captured much of the confrontation and the fatal shot that followed. The video showed Lester appearing to be leaving the property when Mays fired a single shot from a second-floor balcony, striking Lester in the back from over 100 feet away. The bullet entered the right side of his back and fatally lodged in his heart. Mays claimed he acted in self-defense, alleging that Lester had verbally threatened him. During the trial, there were conflicting accounts as to whether Lester had a weapon, though no clear evidence showed he brandished one during the argument.
Christopher Brandon Kirby's role in the incident, as detailed in an arrest warrant, was that of an accomplice who witnessed the shooting. After Mays shot Lester, Kirby allegedly gave Mays a ride from the motel and assisted him in disposing of the murder weapon by hiding it at his mother's house. The gun was later discovered by police, stashed in a coffee can under a shed. Kirby was also accused of being untruthful in his initial statements to investigators.
In May 2021, a Bibb County Superior Court jury deliberated for about three and a half hours before finding Rashad Marquez Mays guilty of the murder of Tavares Lester. The prosecution argued that the shooting was an act of vengeance, not self-preservation, as Lester was walking away and no longer posed a threat. Mays did not testify during his trial. Following the guilty verdict, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
