Latest killing isn’t the first for crime-troubled Augusta neighborhood

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - One person is dead after a shooting at an apartment complex off Wrightsboro Road in a neighborhood that’s historically been troubled with violent crime.

The shooting happened sometime before 9:25 a.m. on Monday in an apartment complex on Fox Trace.

Jerome Burley, 25, of Augusta, was shot at least once at The Landings @ 237 Apartments and transported to Doctors Hospital.

Burley was pronounced dead at 9:26 a.m. and an autopsy has been scheduled, according to Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen.

Soon after the shooting, more than a dozen officers were combing the scene just inside the entrance of The Landings @ 237.

Although the apartment complex has been remodeled, renamed and is under new ownership in recent years, the shooting is part of a pattern that’s plagued the whole Fox Trace neighborhood, the site of a cluster of apartment complexes.

Two neighbors said it’s time for the violence to end.

“The shooting and the killing and the fighting just has to stop,” Janet Peterson said.

Victor Peterson added: “Yeah, it does. The shooting is just nonsense.”

The Landings made headlines about three years ago when the new owner installed a deer stand to serve as a security tower over the one-story buildings. It was equipped with bright lights, cameras and even a siren.

Some of the violence in the neighborhood has even spilled over to the nearby Smart Grocery convenience store on Wrightsboro Road, the site of multiple shootings – some fatal and some nonfatal.

Among the neighborhood’s crime incidents in recent years:

• On April 26, 2024, one person was taken to a hospital after a shooting at the apartment complex.
• On Feb. 17, 2024, one person was sent to the hospital after a shooting at apartments.
• On Feb. 6, 2024, one person was sent to the hospital after a shooting on Fox Trace.
• In December 2023, a shooting claimed the life of Jeremiah Griffin, 32, of the 300 block of Fox Trace.
• In July 2023, one person was sent to a hospital after another shooting at the store.
• In January 2023, a man was shot with his own gun in the 3200 block of Wrightsboro Road after an unknown person grabbed his pistol from his pocket and shot him with it as he tried to break up a fight.
• In September 2022, Zayquantez Jones, 17, was killed in a shooting at the store.
• In December 2021, two motorists fired gunshots at each other near the store before driving off in separate directions. One person was arrested.
• On Nov. 23, 2021, a man pointed a gun at a woman in the parking lot of the store as part of an apparent road-rage incident.
• In April 2021, a man was found in the parking lot of the store, injured after being shot at least twice.
• In March 2020, a shooting there wounded a bystander after a verbal altercation in the parking lot. Marcia Laquette Wimbley, 28, of Augusta, was taken into custody
• In November 2018, a victim was found in the parking lot of the store with at least two gunshot wounds in their mid-section.
• In May 2017, a man suffered wounds to a hand and thigh in a shooting at the store. The injuries were not life-threatening.

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