Augusta, GA
Shootings at store draw a call for action from Augusta leader
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Commission member wants to deal with a convenience store that seems to be a magnet for gunfire and murders.
Catherine Smith McKnight wants to consider beefing up security or closing down the Smart Grocery at 3221 Wrightsboro Road due to the number of shootings happening around there.
It’s a matter she brought up at Tuesday’s meeting of the commission.
The store has been the site of at least nine shootings in recent years, at least two of them fatal, including one on Dec. 11 claimed the life of Jeremiah Griffin, 32, of the 300 block of Fox Trace.
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McKnight’s matter is being moved to the next committee meeting of the commission so the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the store owner can speak.
Through McKnight’s communication with her district, she told News 12 it could be an issue of staffing deputies around the area, and that the owner has reached out to the sheriff’s agency for an added officer that he would pay for.
Another store in the Glendale neighborhood near the Olive Road bridge will also be discussed due to the number of shootings that also happen around here.
Smart Grocery has had a high profile in the news for all the wrong reasons.
It doesn’t help that it’s near some apartment complexes that have been trouble spots for crime, including the one where Griffin lived.
In fact, one of the complexes – formerly known as Fox Den – had such a problem with drugs and other crime that the owner set up a mobile security tower with bright lights, cameras and a siren.
At least some of the violence from the apartments has spilled over to Smart Grocery in recent years, leading Smith McKnight to wonder at what point it becomes a public safety problem.
Smart Grocery and its immediate surroundings have been the site of several gun incidents in recent years. Among those incidents:
- In July, 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.
Last year, commissioners vowed to bring more funding to fight crime in the area.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.
It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”
The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.
The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.
A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.
He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.
The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.
The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.
The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.
The deputy contacted Judge Leslie Morgan and she issued a warrant for terroristic threats.
The student, age 18, was taken into custody and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
News 12 is not reporting his name or publishing his photo since the LEGO gun could not have actually harmed anyone.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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