In the early evening of a December day in Savannah, Georgia, the life of a young man was tragically cut short. On Sunday, December 11, 2016, 19-year-old Javonte Reed was on the 1000 block of Carter Street when an altercation turned deadly. Gunshots shattered the calm of the neighborhood, and when police responded to the scene at approximately 6:45 p.m., they found Reed with a gunshot wound.
Emergency services transported him to Memorial University Medical Center, but his injuries proved to be fatal. Investigators with the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department began to piece together the events of that evening. They learned that Reed had been involved in a dispute with another male just before the shooting. The suspect, described at the time as a Black male wearing a camouflage jacket, fled the scene immediately after the incident in an unknown direction. Authorities stated that they did not believe the shooting was a random act of violence.
The investigation into Reed's death progressed, and just over a week later, an arrest was made in connection with the homicide. On Thursday, December 22, 2016, police took 17-year-old Craig Weston into custody. He was subsequently charged with the murder of Javonte Reed, bringing a swift, if not complete, resolution to a case that had stunned the community.
