Teens Bershard Causey, Quentin Hodges, Germany Ray, charged in slaying of Macon store employee

Macon police have charged three teenagers with the October shooting death of a Sprint Food Store employee.

Two of the teens also have been linked to other violent crimes.

Bershard Jacory Causey, 18, Quentin Beard Hodges, 17, and Germany Durrel Ray, 18, were each charged with murder in the death of Vishnu Patel, police said. Patel was shot three times Oct. 27 while three masked men robbed him and two other employees at gunpoint outside the Napier Avenue store.

The bandits left in a Dodge Caravan that belonged to one of the employees. Police found the van the next day in the 3300 block of Matheson Drive.

Police suspect that Ray was the shooter, said Jami Gaudet, a police spokeswoman.

On Nov. 5, Macon Regional CrimeStoppers increased the reward for information leading to arrests in the case from $1,000 to $5,000. Tips and leads helped propel police investigators, Bibb County deputies and the Bibb County District Attoey’s Office toward arrests. The three teenagers were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Causey, of Pentamia Avenue, and Ray, of West Grenada Terrace, are being held at the Bibb County jail. Causey was arrested Nov. 24 and Ray was arrested Tuesday, according to jail records.

Ray and Hodges also are charged with aggravated assault in connection with a Nov. 2 shooting at Macon Gardens Apartments on Mercer University Drive. Terry Brown, 19, was shot in his right hand, police said.

Ray is charged with six counts of aggravated assault in a Nov. 14 shooting in the parking lot of Scarlett Carsons, 4173 Cavalier Drive, police said. The nightclub is located just west of Interstate 475 off Mercer University Drive.

Witnesses gave deputies a description of a vehicle seen leaving the club and a partial license plate number. An investigator later found the car on San Juan Avenue and was able to find that 21-year-old Tony Deshawn Evans had been driving it, said sheriff’s Capt. Mike Smallwood.

Further investigation led deputies to Ray and his involvement as a gunman in the Scarlett Carsons shooting, Smallwood said.
Evans, of Mathis Street, is charged with three counts of aggravated assault in connection with the shooting, he said. Evans is being held at the Bibb County jail.

Ray also will be charged with two counts of attempted murder stemming from a second shooting Nov. 14 that followed the one in the Scarlett Carsons parking lot. Three people in a car reportedly raced away from Scarlett Carsons, apparently in pursuit of two men. They began shooting in the Mercer University Drive/Columbus Road area, according to police.

Sidney Bishop and Jadarius Shinholster, both 21, were shot in the back.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.