Jonathan Turner, a 30-year-old Black/African American man from Omega, Georgia, was shot and killed on the night of November 21, 2025, during an incident at the Citgo gas station on Alabama Avenue in Tift County. According to investigators, Omega police responded to reports of a shooting at the station and, upon arrival, found Turner unresponsive with what appeared to be a gunshot wound. Emergency responders were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His body was later transported to the Macon Crime Lab for an autopsy to help determine the precise cause and manner of death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in by the Omega Police Department at about 8:15 p.m. that evening to assist with what was initially described as a death investigation at the Citgo location at 5530 Alabama Avenue. When state investigators arrived, they documented the scene as a fatal shooting, with physical evidence and witness accounts being collected to reconstruct what happened in the moments before Turner was shot. Officials have not publicly released detailed narrative findings about the sequence of events or any interaction that may have taken place at the gas station immediately prior to the gunfire, but they have confirmed that the case is being treated as a homicide and that forensic testing is ongoing.
Within days of the shooting, the GBI announced the arrest of 19-year-old Justin Contreras of Omega in connection with Turner’s death. Contreras has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was taken into custody and booked into the Tift County Jail, where he is being held while the case is prepared for prosecution. Authorities have not publicly described any prior relationship between Contreras and Turner, nor have they released a clear motive, citing the active and ongoing nature of the investigation.
Turner’s killing has been recorded in public gun-violence tracking databases and memorial sites, which note his death from gunfire in Omega on November 21, 2025, and invite friends, family, and community members to share memories and condolences. Local funeral and obituary notices from the Tifton–Omega area report his passing on that date and reflect a community grappling with the sudden loss of a young man whose life was ended in a brief burst of violence at a neighborhood gas station. Even as loved ones make arrangements and honor his memory, law enforcement officials continue to ask anyone with additional information about the shooting to contact the Omega Police Department, the GBI’s Sylvester regional office, or submit anonymous tips through the state’s tip line and online reporting systems, underscoring that the case remains open and under active review.
