Antonio Thornton Jr., a 17-year-old Black male from Loganville, Georgia, was visiting relatives in the Savannah area when his life ended outside an apartment complex in Bloomingdale. At approximately 7:43 a.m. on December 14, 2025, Chatham County 911 received a call reporting that a body was lying outside the Magnolia Lane Apartments along U.S. Highway 80. Bloomingdale police officers responded and found Antonio suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, turning what had begun as a quiet Sunday morning into the opening of a homicide investigation.
The Bloomingdale Police Department requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Agents began examining the apartment grounds and the circumstances that brought Antonio to the complex, while his body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab in Pooler for an autopsy. Authorities initially released few details about what happened before the shooting or whether Antonio had arranged to meet anyone there. His family said he had been visiting relatives in the Savannah area when he was killed.
Antonio, affectionately known as "TJ," was remembered by his family as a promising high school senior with ambitions that reached far beyond graduation. His mother, Tyesha Abdullah, described him as a basketball fan and a strong student who was taking calculus and hoped to become an engineer. He had been expected to graduate in May 2026 and planned to attend college. In January, approximately 70 relatives, classmates and friends gathered at Bay Creek Park in Loganville for a balloon release in his memory, filling the park with red, black and white, his favorite colors.
Investigators announced the first arrest on December 27. Franklin Leonard James Jr. of Savannah was taken into custody and booked into the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center. Although James was 16 when arrested, authorities said he would be prosecuted as an adult. He was initially charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a person younger than 18. The GBI announcement contained a duplicated listing of the firearm-during-a-felony charge, but later court proceedings clarified the allegations against him.
Two days later, the GBI arrested a second suspect. Terrance Devon Green of Pooler was taken to the Chatham County Detention Center and initially charged with felony murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery. Green was 17 at the time of his arrest. Authorities did not publicly describe the precise relationship among Antonio and the two defendants or explain how they identified James and Green during the investigation.
The allegations became more detailed when a Chatham County grand jury returned an indictment on February 25, 2026. James and Green were both indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. James was additionally accused of illegally possessing a handgun while younger than 18.
According to the indictment, prosecutors allege that James and Green robbed Antonio of a cellular telephone while using a. 45-caliber handgun. The charging document further alleges that Antonio was shot with that weapon during the robbery. Those accusations formed the basis of the armed robbery, aggravated assault and murder counts. The indictment represented the prosecution's allegations and did not constitute a finding that either defendant was guilty.
In April 2026, James and Green appeared in Chatham County Superior Court before Judge Christopher Middleton and entered pleas of not guilty. Their pleas moved the case into the pretrial stage, where attorneys could review evidence, file motions and prepare for a possible trial. As of the most recently available reporting, neither defendant had been convicted or sentenced, and no completed trial or final resolution had been announced. The two suspects remained accused of participating in a robbery that prosecutors contend ended with Antonio being shot and left outside the Magnolia Lane Apartments.
