Shortly after 12:15 a.m. on January 19, 2021, deputies in Augusta, Georgia, responded to gunfire at an apartment complex on the 1100 block of Peters Road and found 24-year-old Jerome Willy Bates with at least one gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m. A 23-year-old man, Devante Pinkney, was also shot and taken to hospital by a private vehicle.

Authorities say the shootings occurred during an illegal narcotics transaction and opened a homicide investigation. Arrest warrants allege 22-year-old Antonio Demarco Dinkins Jr. fired a Glock 40 caliber, striking Bates in the back; Dinkins was charged with Bates’s murder and with aggravated assault in Pinkney’s shooting. Reports note Dinkins had a prior history of violent offenses in Richmond County and the investigation was ongoing at the time of his arrest.

Did anyone in the area witness activity near the Peters Road apartments around that time or have information about the transaction?