A fatal shootout at a Macon convenience store on the evening of June 6, 2022, left two young men dead and a bystander wounded. Roderick Felton, described in reports as either 19 or 21 years old, was involved in a personal dispute with 19-year-old Braxton Cole that began in the parking lot of Friends Food Mart on Houston Avenue and continued inside the store. According to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Cole drew a firearm and shot at Felton; Felton then produced a gun and returned fire. Both men died in the exchange, and 23-year-old DeRoderick Collins was struck and hospitalized in stable condition.

Friends Food Mart had seen prior violence, including a fatal shooting about a month earlier, and was temporarily closed by court order afterward as a public nuisance. Both Felton and Cole had participated in a local Street to Success program aimed at steering youth away from violence. Does anyone have information about the dispute that led to the shooting or knew Felton and can add context to his life?