Mother of Wrens shooting victim calls for change
Khia Shields, a JCHS graduate and honor student at Georgia Southern University, was home from college for the weekend Friday, Aug. 25, when she was killed a by bullets fire through her mother’s home in Wrens just four days after her 19th birthday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Wrens Police and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the incident and looking for leads to discover who pulled the trigger.
A spokesman for the Wrens Police Department said that the officers, along with county Sheriff’s deputies, were dispatched to an address on Washington Street around 1:10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26.
“Life saving measures were utilized immediately with the assistance of Wrens Fire. However, Ms. Shields died at Augusta University as a result of her injuries,” the Wrens P.D. spokesman said.
Shareka Pitts, Shields’ mother, told reporters that they were asleep around 1 a.m. when a bullet entered their Washington Street home and struck her daughter. Shields came into her mother’s room and told her, “Mommy, I’m shot.”
In the days following this tragedy, Pitts has spoken out against gun violence in her community.
Just six days before Shields was killed, five people, ages 23 to 37, suffered bullet wounds in a drive-by shooting in Wrens Quarters outside nearby Louisville around 8:20 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20. In early July, arrest warrants were issued for 15 individuals who were involved in an incident where two groups of individuals chased each other across Wrens, firing more than 60 gunshots, leaving spent shells in at least five locations with stray bullets striking neighboring homes and vehicles.
Pitts has begged the people responsible for the recent violence throughout her county to, “put the guns down.”
She said she plans to keep her daughter’s name alive by speaking out against the gun violence that has become an increasing problem in her community.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 30, an online fundraiser was within a few hundred dollars of reaching its $5,000 goal to support Shields’ family and a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for her death.
“Khia was a nice, loving young Queen with a very bright future in the educational profession,” said Arthur Wilcher, co-founder of Young Men United, Inc that organized the fundraiser.
Wilcher said that $3,000 of the money raised will be for used as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for Shields’ death.
“We wanted to do something for the family to help with their expenses, but we also wanted to offer this incentive for people to come forward and provide information,” Wilcher said. “These shootings, it’s way out of hand. Everybody is on edge about it. We need to do something as a community. I don’t have the answers, but if all of us work together maybe we can do something.”
The money raised by Young Men United is separate from the $5,000 reward recently offered by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for information on the perpetrators of gun violence in Jefferson County.
“Nobody wants to say anything, but people are not safe in their homes. You’ve got to open your mouth. You’ve got to say something,” Wilcher said. “This street code against snitching, that’s a big part of the problem. People are being harmed, you have to say something.”
Wrens police continue to work with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on the investigation into Pitts’ death.
“We ask that if there is anyone who has any information that you please contact the Wrens Police Department at (706) 547-3232, GBI Thomson Office at (706) 595-2575 or text the Wrens Crimline at (706) 872-6755. All calls and texts will remain anonymous,” the Wrens PD spokesman said.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Mother of Wrens shooting victim calls for change
