"So senseless": Victim's friend speaks out about Augusta mass shooting
Two men were fatally shot during a mass shooting in Augusta over the weekend and a friend to one of them is speaking out about his lost life.
"Are you serious? How? What happened?" a surprised Kellie Miller Hall, the ex-girlfriend of Germayne Farrell, asked in a message to The Chronicle following his death.
Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said the alleged retaliation shooting Saturday afternoon involved two motorcycle gangs, the Outcast Motorcycle Club, based in Augusta, and an out-of-town motorcycle club called Thug Rider. He said the retaliation was in response to a previous incident between the groups in Florida. He declined to give any further details on what happened in Florida.
Keith Coates, 30, of Valdosta, Georgia, and Farrell, 51, of Daytona Beach, Florida, were killed and four others were injured during the shooting near Olde Town at Sand Bar Ferry Road and East Boundary Street – reportedly the headquarters of the Outcast MC.
More than 100 empty shell casings were found on site, according to Roundtree.
"Targeted attack": Deadly downtown Augusta shooting was a 'targeted attack,' according to Sheriff Roundtree
Hall hadn't heard about the out-of-town shooting until media requests came rolling in. She said Farrell was trying to make a better life for himself.
"So senseless," Hall said. "He's from the St. Louis area. ... He was always hard working, starting many businesses over the years ... seemingly trying to make legitimate money and life for himself ... always grinding."
Farrell even wrote his own book, according to his Facebook posts.
The book, titled "The IRS is not the 'Big Bad Wolf,'" was published in 2017 and is available on Amazon.
While Farrell was fairly active on Facebook, sharing posts about the motorcycle club and his hobbies, Coates lacks an online presence.
It appears Coates does not have Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts and family and friends have not taken to social media to share about the shooting.
The sheriff on Monday confirmed unofficial reports of a first responder hitting the body of Coates or Farrell with his vehicle. Roundtree said fire personnel was clearing the area so emergency vehicles could get in and he did not see the body and struck it. The incident was documented as a traffic incident.
The sheriff's office said Monday afternoon that it will not release the incident report. The Augusta Fire Department told reporters it would send out a press release Monday afternoon, but later declined to provide an incident report, name of the employee who ran over the body, or name of the person who was run over.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: A look into the victims of Augusta's motorcycle gang shootout
