In the late hours of a Friday night in Macon, Georgia, a tragic and unforeseen event unfolded in the parking lot of a Taco Bell on Eisenhower Parkway, forever altering the lives of a local family. On February 28, 2014, Cedric Recardo Patrick Jr., a 21-year-old male, was fatally wounded in what was described by those present as a terrible accident.
Patrick was seated in the front of a parked car when a single gunshot ended his life.
The shot came from the backseat, where his 27-year-old cousin, Dominick Kantrel Howell Sr., was sitting. According to witness statements provided to Bibb County sheriff's investigators, Howell had a pistol resting on his lap. The firearm reportedly slipped and, in the reflexive act of trying to catch it, Howell inadvertently caused the weapon to discharge. The bullet struck Patrick in the back.
Emergency services were called to the scene, and Patrick was rushed to a nearby hospital. Despite the efforts of medical personnel, he was pronounced dead at approximately 11:00 p.m. that same evening. In the aftermath of the shooting, a grief-stricken Howell made the decision to surrender to law enforcement. He turned himself in to investigators and recounted the harrowing sequence of events that led to his cousin's death.
Following the investigation into the fatal shooting, Dominick Kantrel Howell Sr. was taken into custody and charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was subsequently held at the Bibb County jail without bond. The incident sent shockwaves through their family and the local community, leaving them to mourn the sudden and tragic loss of a young man's life at the hands of his own cousin in a moment that spiraled into a devastating fatality.
