On the late evening of August 8, 2024, 49-year-old Terrell Hernandez Howell of Columbus, Georgia, was shot and killed while at a gathering in the Lincoln Park community of Thomaston. Howell and several others were playing cards inside an outbuilding at 914 Prater Street when a gunman appeared at the doorway and opened fire; deputies arriving about 10:20 p.m. pronounced Howell dead at the scene.

A second victim, 53-year-old property owner Johnathan Bernard Holston of Thomaston, was found in the yard with a gunshot wound to his abdomen and was airlifted to a trauma center in critical condition. The Upson County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from Thomaston Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, led the probe.

On August 20, 2024, authorities arrested 19-year-old Chasyn Mayfield of Flovilla on an Upson County warrant; he was charged with the murder of Terrell Hernandez Howell and held without bond. Investigators say the inquiry remains active and additional charges may be forthcoming. If anyone has information about this shooting, please contact the investigators.