On the afternoon of Friday, July 5, 2019, a dispute at the intersection of Feinberg and Lester streets in Thomasville, Georgia, escalated into a shooting that killed 21-year-old Tazavia Rashawn Cooper of Bainbridge and wounded another man, David McNair, who was struck in the hip and taken to a local hospital. The confrontation began as a meeting that turned into an argument and then into violence.

Authorities identified a suspect the same day; 18-year-old Derylmaize Jackson was turned over to police by his family and charged with one count of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Jackson was held in the Thomas County Jail. A jury later found him guilty, and in July 2021 a judge sentenced him to life without parole for Cooper’s murder plus a consecutive five-year term for the assault and firearm charge.

Tazavia Rashawn Cooper, born November 19, 1997, was known as Tadpole to his family and Zay to friends and fans, and remembered for his love of making music and entertaining. Does anyone have information about Cooper’s life in Bainbridge or about the events that led up to that July afternoon?