Derante “Tae” Bailey, a 22-year-old Black male from McDonough, was killed on February 13, 2017, in a shooting outside a home on Simpson Street. According to local reports, McDonough police were called to the scene around 8:30 that night and found him in or near a car with a fatal gunshot wound to the head after neighbors said they had heard multiple shots. In the stories that followed, his family remembered him as caring and quiet, the kind of young man whose absence would leave a sharp silence behind. An obituary published days later listed his name as Deronte Bailey, age 22, of McDonough, and confirmed the date of his death.
What emerges from the coverage is the outline of a sudden, violent moment that shattered an ordinary evening. Bailey had been outside the Simpson Street residence when gunfire erupted, and by the time officers arrived, there was nothing left to save. The reports do not paint him as a man at the center of some public drama; instead, they leave the impression of someone whose life ended in a burst of violence that his relatives struggled to understand, while neighbors were left with the memory of hearing those shots cut through the neighborhood.
As the investigation moved forward, police publicly identified Byron Terrell Howell, 38, as wanted in connection with Bailey’s killing. Fox 5 reported that McDonough police said Howell was wanted for murder and had three warrants for his arrest. Authorities warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous, said he might be hiding in Griffin or in Atlanta’s Kirkwood area, and believed he could be driving a black Dodge Charger or Challenger with black or gray rims.
The later online reporting I found centers on that wanted notice rather than on a courtroom ending. I did not locate a follow-up news report in the sources reviewed confirming Howell’s arrest, a trial, or a conviction in Bailey’s death. So the public trail available online appears to end with Bailey’s killing, the grief voiced by those who knew him, and police naming a suspect they said they were still trying to find.
