The investigation of the shooting at the Waffle House in Eatonton is now in its eighth week. Recently, another arrest was made, and more charges were added to previous arrests this week, bringing the total arrests to four.
“We’ve issued 20 warrants pertaining to that Waffle House case, but nobody is from Eatonton; they’re all from out of town,” Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell said in an earlier statement. “If you can’t behave, stay out of this town.”
No one was injured in the shooting that happened in the parking lot around the restaurant on Walmart Drive around 1 a.m. Monday, Oct. 28. The next day, a 16-year-old male from Greensboro was arrested for misdemeanor reckless conduct.
Cardwell said the teen was the driver of the vehicle the shooter was in when he left the restaurant following the barrage of gunfire. On Friday, Dec. 20, a charge of participation in criminal gang activity was added, which is a felony.
Charges were also added Friday to 17-year-old Jacameron Brown’s list of accusations. On Nov. 4, Brown, also of Greensboro, was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, criminal damage to property (second degree), possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a person under 18 years of age, and unauthorized discharge of firearms within 50 yards of a public highway.
On Dec. 20, four more counts of aggravated assault were added to his charges, as well as two counts of felony participation in criminal gang activity. Bond was set at $60,000 with the condition that Brown stay out of Putnam County except for court dates.
Cardwell said the same charges were added to Javon Quentin Robinson’s list of prior charges in the shooting (the same charges as Brown, above). Robinson is being held in Baldwin County in connection with a shooting at the Milledgeville Waffle House the same night as the Eatonton Waffle House shooting.
A new arrest in the shooting is Octavius Quavon Shelton, 21, of Cradille Park Road, Greensboro, now in Putnam County Jail, on the charge of participation in criminal gang activity.
“The course of our investigation gave us more information that led to more charges being added,” Cardwell noted.
Eatonton crime scene investigators reportedly collected about 30 shell casings from 9mm handguns and .223 automatic rifles from the parking lot of the Waffle House and nearby Zaxby’s restaurants the night of the shooting.
As previously reported, Eatonton Police Officer Jeremy McClure was already on scene when the shots were fired. Cardwell said Zaxby’s was closed, but the Waffle House was busy, and the parking lot and restaurant were crowded.
A gunshot reportedly was heard, and smoke from the gun was seen rising in the sky behind a gathered crowd at the bottom of the Waffle House driveway. McClure immediately radioed for backup, grabbed his rifle, and went into the Waffle House to ensure the safety of everyone in there.
The chief said EPD Investigator Hargrove Jones is working the case and went to Greensboro last week to pick up the newest accused men.
Authorities continue to search for one more man involved in the shootings at both Eatonton’s and Milledgeville’s Waffle Houses that night.
Howell said they know him but have not made his name public.