WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Wednesday the Warner Robins Police Department shared that the two men involved in the Tuesday night shooting on South Davis Drive did know each other and possibly had an ongoing dispute.
The argument left 24-year-old Zephaniah Langston dead from several gunshot wounds, and 18-year-old Javon Charles hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg.
The original press release from the police department listed Langston as a 15-year-old but that was later updated.
Sitting down with Warner Robins Police Chief Wayne Fisher, he shared a message that he shared just weeks ago after another youth-involved shooting.
He wants parents to pay more attention and be more involved with their kids.
He urges that parents speak up if their child has gotten ahold of their household gun or report them if they have brought a random gun into their home.
Now, Fisher says Charles is facing several charges.
"For Kidnapping, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and malice murder," Fisher said.
He says the Tuesday night shooting is an example of why their department and the city have been preaching mentorship for months.
"The concerned neighbor that sees a disadvantaged child next door that needs proper role-modeling, we need to be the adults and provide that proper role-modeling," he said.
However, instead of adults encouraging safety and wellness, he says some are encouraging violence.
"We have adults that are engaged in setting up makeshift fighting rings in city parks for our children to be fighting in. My questions back to the parents and the adults is this, when are we going to be tired of our children being victims of such behavior and why are we as adults participating in these actions doing such? The responsibility of the children participating in these actions lies with them as well," he said.
He says this happened on Sunday. No one was arrested because the fight was broken up, by the time police arrived.
However, some groups in the city are still looking to be a positive influence.
"We're here to change the lives of young people, adults, to offer career movement," Harrison Head shared.
He is the vice president of the Greater Warner Robins Chapter of 100 Black Men. As a father, he says these violent incidents are hard to see.
"That could have been my child, that could have been your child, that could have been our neighbor's kid that was involved in that shooting just by being an innocent bystander," Head shared.
So he and the 100 Black Men are seeking to be the example. They work with youth on behavioral and emotional redirection and communication skills.
"We're currently in Northside [High School], Northside Middle, and a couple of other high schools including Warner Robins," he shared.
He says their group also teaches classes that help with college readiness, financial literacy and other important life skills.
They try to model for youth that hard work is the key to success.
"The more you work, the better you become as a person, in your community, in your home, and to your friends around you," Head shared.
Head says the group is partnering with a new usher upward program coming to the city that targets young people. They are also working to get into other schools across Central Georgia.
You can find their website here.