On the evening of May 5, 2023, 22-year-old Jatavious Tremon Bill Thomas was shot in the 900 block of Powledge Avenue in Opelika, Alabama. He was taken to East Alabama Medical Center with a life-threatening gunshot wound and died three days later, on May 8, 2023.

Opelika Police Department opened a homicide investigation and identified 23-year-old Jerryonne Ja’Quion Patterson as the primary suspect. With help from the Lee County SWAT Team and the Auburn Police Department, Patterson was taken into custody and has been charged with murder in connection with Thomas’s death. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges could be considered.

If anyone has information about the shooting on Powledge Avenue or saw activity in the area that evening, contact investigators with what they know.