On the evening of September 25, 2022, 22-year-old Dontez Lamar Garrett was shot and killed in the Seminole Avenue area of Sylacauga, Alabama. Deputies from the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call around 8:00 p.m. and found Garrett with fatal gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. A second man, 25, was also shot multiple times, taken to Coosa Valley Medical Center and later airlifted to UAB Hospital. The exchange of gunfire damaged two vehicles.

Garrett, known to family and friends as Jap, was a 2018 graduate of B.B. Comer Memorial High School and father to a son, Messiah Jenkins. Family held a celebration of his life on October 8, 2022, followed by interment at Sylacauga Cemetery. The Talladega County Sheriff’s Office opened a homicide investigation and has asked the public for information, offering a monetary reward for tips that lead to identification and arrest. No suspects or arrests have been announced.

If anyone has information about what happened on Seminole Avenue that night, please contact the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office.