Georgia Street Fight Leaves Teen Bystander Dead: 9 Arrested, Another Suspect Sought [Video]
Another person was arrested this week in connection with a March 18 brawl in Hephzibah, Georgia, that left a teenage bystander dead. Police are still searching for one more suspect.
ABC News reports that Demajhay Bell, 18, was killed during an afternoon brawl that initially started out between two high school girls. Two Glenn Hills High School students had a spat on campus earlier this month over a boy. The argument quickly escalated on social media, as relatives and friends got involved in a dispute that led to numerous people showing up to a 15-year-old girl’s Hephzibah home, located just outside of Augusta.
Warning: The video contains explicit language and may be unsettling to some people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkDyM7nKvH4
Bell was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time when two people, one with a knife, began fighting. As a male with a knife lunged at another male, Bell ended up with a slice wound to the neck. As he ran for safety, numerous girls are heard shrieking in surprise and distress.
9 People Charged With Murder After Teen Dies In Neighborhood Brawl (Video): 18-year-old Demajhay Bell was stab… https://t.co/0M1CGQtY5b
— Albert Cashfama (@Cashfamaweezy) March 25, 2016
According to Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree, the fight quickly escalated into a street brawl after numerous other people began attacking each other with baseball bats and knives. A man inside a vehicle used his car in the brawl as he attempted to run people over.
“This is one of the most senseless murders that we’ve had. Before this escalates and becomes the norm, we want to take a hard stance and say we are not going to tolerate this in our community.”
The person who allegedly stabbed Bell, identified as 21-year-old Demetrius Harris, Jr., was one of his friends, according to Roundtree. Bell was not the intended victim, but nonetheless, he ended up dying in the hospital after flagging down an officer in plain clothes who rushed him in for medical help.
“He was not even participating. The person who stabbed him was a friend of his. He wasn’t the intended victim.”
A friend of Demajhay Bell says "he was loved" and "a good kid" https://t.co/1OcDESYb0j pic.twitter.com/3ISpMaXTg7
— WJBF (@WJBF) March 25, 2016
So far, nine people have been arrested in the incident, both males and females, with ages ranging from 18 to 39. Each suspect has been charged with aggravated assault and felony murder. Although only one person stabbed Bell, Georgia law mandates that all parties involved in a felony when a murder occurs are to be charged with murder as well, regardless if they actually committed the murder.
The suspects include:
- Quiauna Henley, 35, of Chukar Ct., Hephzibah
- Quiasha Henley, 18, of Chukar Ct., Hephzibah
- A’Lexis Cain, 18, of Green Forest Dr., Hephzibah
- Tyteanna Thomas, 18, of East Kensington Dr., Augusta
- Raheem Jobes,19, of Westfield Dr., Augusta
- Myah Dunbar, 18, of Portsmouth Place, Hephzibah
- Eyvette Lashawn Byrd, 39, of Chaps Lane, Hephzibah
- Demetrius Lamont Harris Jr., 21, of Chaps Lane, Hephzibah
One of the suspects arrested, 39-year-old Eyvette Byrd, is the mother of one of the girls seen fighting at the beginning of the video. She told police that a mob of people approached her house, trying to get her daughter, a minor, the day the brawl took place. Byrd said that she tried to drive Bell to the hospital, but another fight broke out, and she got out of her car. Bell then tried to drive himself to the hospital before he was assisted by the officer.
A 63-year-old woman, who only wants to be known as Jackie, stayed inside an area home and witnessed the brawl. She said watching the fight was like witnessing World War III.
“I saw people across the street with hammers. There were 30 to 50 people coming down the road with knives and everything. It was horrible. It was an atrocity. Kids don’t have no doggone respect.”
Jackie stated that neighborhood is usually quiet and peaceful, and during her 15 years of living in Hephzibah, she’s never witnessed anything quite like the fight she saw.
“I’ve seen some stuff in my life, but not like this.”
Police are still searching for another suspect said to be involved in the Georgia street fight: Eddie Doneal Carter III, 18, of Augusta. Anyone with any information should call 911 immediately.
[Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images]
