On the evening of Sunday, September 24, 2023, 17-year-old Christopher Hakim Wellmaker, known to some as CJ, was shot multiple times on Matthews Street in Barnesville, Georgia. Deputies and Barnesville police found him around 6:25 p.m.; he was taken to a local hospital and died later that evening. Investigators said the shooting was believed to be retaliation for a prior incident.

Initial reports suggested Wellmaker might have been driving with the shooters, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation corrected that account: he was outside a residence when two people in a passing vehicle fired at him in a drive-by shooting. Two juveniles were arrested and charged with felony murder; one was reported from Milner and the other from Griffin. A Monroe County judge ordered both to be tried as adults, and their cases were to be transferred to the Towaliga District Attorney for prosecution.

Does anyone have information about Christopher, the September 24 scene on Matthews Street, or connections that might help investigators?