In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 25, 2025, the life of 30-year-old Deontre Mincey, an African American male from Portal, Georgia, was tragically cut short. The incident unfolded in the parking lot of a commercial strip on Lanier Drive in Statesboro, which housed a bar and a smoke shop. Responding to reports of shots fired shortly after 1 a.m., Statesboro Police Department officers arrived to find Mincey deceased at the scene from a gunshot wound.
Another adult male was also wounded in the event, sustaining a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his arm and was taken to East Georgia Regional Medical Center.
The initial stages of the investigation were hampered by a lack of cooperation from witnesses. Despite video evidence showing numerous people in the vicinity of the shooting, no one remained at the scene to provide information to the authorities. Investigators were forced to rely on technology, including video surveillance and Flock tag reader data, in conjunction with forensic evidence and interviews to piece together the events of that fatal morning. Through their diligent work, detectives were quickly able to identify a primary suspect.
Within a day of the shooting, an arrest warrant for felony murder and other related charges was issued for 21-year-old Khalir Nickens of Sylvania, Georgia. He was considered armed and dangerous and remained at large for nearly two months. The investigation also identified a second individual, Timothy Odell Ward, as being involved. Ward was arrested by the United States Marshals Service in Effingham County on December 18, 2025, and transported back to Bulloch County. He was charged with murder for his role in the events that led to Mincey's death. The following day, on December 19, 2025, Khalir Nickens, the suspected shooter, turned himself in to authorities at the Bulloch County Jail.
In February of the following year, a Bulloch County Grand Jury indicted both Khalir Nickens and Timothy Ward on multiple charges, including felony murder, criminal attempt to commit a felony/murder, four counts of aggravated assault, and five counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Nickens faced additional charges of murder and aggravated assault. The case against the two men is now proceeding through the judicial system.
