Shortly before midnight Monday, in a police department near the Alabama border, a 13-year-old boy was placed in handcuffs.
Twelve hours earlier, he’d been publicly named a suspect in the death of a 20-year-old man shot Easter Sunday in a LaGrange neighborhood. Jayden Gunsby is facing a charge of murder as an adult, according to the LaGrange Police Department.
Warrants were obtained for Gunsby’s arrest April 12, one day after the victim, Davaris Lindsey, died of his injuries. The police department did not respond to inquiries Monday about why they waited nearly two weeks to name the suspect.
He was arrested Monday night “without incident,” according to police. Mike Merideth, president of the Troup County NAACP, told Channel 2 Action News that he helped Gunsby’s family surrender him to authorities.
“It was orderly. There were a lot of emotions and there was a lot of family support,” Merideth said about Gunsby turning himself in at the police station.
In Georgia, 13 is the minimum age for criminal prosecution, although most offenses are adjudicated in juvenile court and are not considered crimes. Certain serious offenses, including murder, originate in superior court, but it’s up to the discretion of local prosecutors whether they stay there.
If Gunsby is tried and convicted as an adult, he could face life in prison.
Few details about the deadly shooting have been released. On April 9, officers found Lindsey suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the area of McGregor and Colquitt streets, a mostly residential area in the central part of the city.
Lindsey was taken to Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center before being transferred to another trauma hospital due to the severity of his injuries. He died the following day, upgrading the case to murder, according to a previous news release.
On Monday, the police department released Gunsby’s name and photo and asked for the public’s help to locate him. They did not say how he was tied to the case, or if he had a prior connection to Lindsey. The boy was in custody by 11:15 p.m.
Following his arrest, Gunsby was expected to be booked into a regional youth detention facility.
Lindsey’s death remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Troup County 911, the LaGrange Police Department at 706-883-2603 or Troup County Crime Stoppers at 706-812-1000.
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