A 21-year-old Blakely man was shot dead outside a Circle K convenience store in the small southwest Georgia town of Colquitt on Sunday night, after a gathering between two carloads of young men in the parking lot turned violent. Three suspects, including a 16-year-old, are now facing murder charges following a high-speed chase that ended in a crash.
Qutavious Ofton had walked into the store when gunfire erupted outside at 359 South 4th Street, according to the FOX 5 Atlanta report on the case. He was struck by gunfire and pronounced dead at the scene; a second person was also injured in the shooting. Five people had met up in two separate vehicles in the Circle K lot when the confrontation turned violent around 10:06 p.m., the outlet reported.
Emergency calls flooded the joint Miller-Baker E911 dispatch center at roughly the same time, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, after callers reported shots fired at the convenience store. A Georgia State Patrol trooper spotted three men driving away from the scene and pursued their vehicle, a chase that ended in a crash, per the same account. Koti Amaad Dunn Jr., 19, of Cuthbert ran from the wreckage with a gunshot wound and was taken by ambulance to a regional hospital.
Three Young Men Charged, One From Each Neighboring County
Colquitt Police asked the GBI to take the lead on the homicide investigation, and Special Agent in Charge Jamy Steinberg of the agency's Region 9 Field Office in Thomasville is now overseeing the case, the GBI said. Investigators say the three suspects arrested — 16-year-old Shamerion Allen of Fort Gaines, 18-year-old Jakevious Lashawn Nunnally of Blakely, and Dunn of Cuthbert — had traveled to Colquitt from three separate neighboring counties for the meetup that ended in gunfire.
Allen faces one count of murder along with two counts of aggravated assault, according to the report from FOX 5 Atlanta. Nunnally and Dunn each face a felony murder charge, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Under Georgia law, felony murder charges do not require proof that the defendant fired the fatal shot — only that a death occurred during an underlying dangerous felony such as aggravated assault, the outlet noted.
Because Allen is 16, his murder charge sends his case directly into adult Superior Court rather than juvenile court. Under Georgia Code § 15-11-560, part of the state's so-called “seven deadly sins” statute, Superior Courts hold exclusive original jurisdiction over juveniles aged 13 to 17 charged with murder, according to Justia Law. Nunnally was booked into the Miller County Jail, and Allen was booked there as well; Dunn is expected to be processed at the jail once he is released from the hospital.
Coroner Confirms Cause of Death Before State Agents Named Suspects
Local station WALB News 10 reported the Miller County coroner had confirmed Ofton died from gunshot wounds at the scene shortly after 10 p.m. — hours before state investigators publicly identified any suspects or charges. Ofton's body will undergo an autopsy at the GBI crime lab, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting, and they have not disclosed what brought the two groups together outside the Circle K that night. Officials also have not said who fired the shot that wounded Dunn during the crash, nor have they provided an update on his medical condition.
Colquitt is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Miller County, a rural stretch of southwest Georgia with under 2,000 residents in the city itself, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Once the GBI's investigation wraps up, the case will move to District Attorney Ronald “Vic” McNease Jr.’s office in the Pataula Judicial Circuit, which prosecutes cases across seven rural counties in the region, according to the Pataula Judicial Circuit. Felony proceedings would be heard in Miller County Superior Court before rotating circuit judges, including Chief Judge T. Craig Earnest and Judge Henry L. Balkcom IV.
GBI Seeks Tips as Investigation Continues
This marks at least the third time in roughly a year that a GBI investigation out of Colquitt or the surrounding Pataula Judicial Circuit has landed on Hoodline's radar, following an infant injury case and a Cuthbert teen's death investigated earlier this year. Small municipal departments in rural southwest Georgia routinely call in the state agency for major violent crimes, given their limited local resources.
The GBI's Region 9 office is asking anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be submitted through the Thomasville office at 229-225-4090, the toll-free tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS, or through the “See Something, Send Something” mobile app, the agency said in its release. Investigators are continuing to seek witness accounts and surveillance footage from the night of the shooting.
