Tyrell Brown

In the early hours of March 24, 2024, police in Millen, Georgia, responded to a report of a shooting at the Annie P. Chance Veteran's Center on Acorn Avenue. Arriving around 1:45 a.m., they found two people who had been killed. One was Tyrell Brown, a 28-year-old Black man from the nearby town of Garfield. The other was Maxine Jones, a 48-year-old mother of eight from Millen. Mr. Brown was found with a gunshot wound, but Ms. Jones showed no immediate signs of trauma. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to assist the Millen Police Department. The bodies of both victims were taken to the GBI Crime Lab, where autopsies determined that both Mr. Brown and Ms. Jones had died from gunshot wounds. The investigation was complicated by another shooting that occurred just hours later, around 7:10 a.m., on Wasdin Street. Authorities believed this second incident was connected to the double homicide, though no one was injured.

The investigation quickly led to a suspect, 28-year-old Raheem Whitfield of Waynesboro, who turned himself in to authorities. He was arrested and initially charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. A grand jury later indicted him on more serious charges, including two counts of malice murder and two counts of felony murder. A second suspect, Shenice Thompson, a candidate for Jenkins County Tax Commissioner, was also indicted. Her charges included malice murder, felony murder, making a false statement to a GBI agent, tampering with evidence, and hindering the apprehension of a criminal. Thompson, who was out of state when the warrant was issued, arranged her surrender and turned herself in at the Jenkins County Jail in June 2024.

The trial for both Whitfield and Thompson began in Jenkins County Superior Court in May 2026. Prosecutors argued that the shooting was an unprovoked attack that followed an earlier altercation between Brown and Thompson at a convenience store. During the trial, a GBI medical examiner testified that a single bullet had struck Mr. Brown and then Ms. Jones, causing both of their deaths. Whitfield’s defense team argued he acted in self-defense, claiming that Brown had a gun, but witness testimony on this point was conflicting.

On May 13, 2026, the jury delivered its verdicts. Raheem Whitfield was found guilty of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Shenice Thompson was acquitted of the murder charges but was convicted on lesser charges of tampering with evidence, making false statements, and hindering the apprehension of a criminal. The case concluded with these verdicts in May 2026.