In the summer of 2015, a senseless act of violence cut short the life of 20-year-old Edwin Dean Williams Jr. in Augusta, Georgia. The young man was fatally shot on the evening of Saturday, June 13, 2015, on Amsterdam Drive. The incident plunged his family and the community into a state of shock and grief as they struggled to comprehend the sudden loss.
Responding to reports of a shooting, officers from the Richmond County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene to find Williams suffering
from at least one gunshot wound. He was rushed to Georgia Regents University Medical Center, where, despite the efforts of medical staff, he was pronounced dead in the early hours of the following morning. Another individual was also injured in the shooting, sustaining a gunshot wound to the hand.
The investigation into the death of Edwin Dean Williams Jr. quickly pointed to a suspect. Within days, the Richmond County Sheriff's Office identified Jaquez Jackson, who was 19 years old at the time, as the individual responsible for the fatal shooting. A warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of murder and aggravated assault. The search for Jackson culminated in his apprehension on the Monday following the incident. He was taken into custody without incident at a residence on Washington Road by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Following his arrest, Jaquez Jackson was booked into the Richmond County jail. The community was left to mourn the loss of a young life and grapple with the violence that had taken place. While the motive for the shooting was not immediately made public, the arrest of a suspect brought a small measure of relief to a grieving community, marking the first step towards justice for Edwin Dean Williams Jr. and his family. The subsequent legal proceedings would seek to hold the accused accountable for his actions on that tragic summer night.
