Second man dies from wounds recieved during ‘road rage incident gone bad’

ALBANY — A second victim is dead from a shooting incident that authorities are calling a “road rage incident gone bad,” which occurred early Saturday morning on Beverly Avenue in east Albany.

Quatez Strong, 18, succumbed to his wounds and died at 2:30 p.m. Sunday after being airlifted to a hospital in Macon. Jalen Walker, 15, who was in the same vehicle as Strong at the time of the shooting, was pronounced dead at the scene Saturday morning.

“Our investigators believe this to be a road rage incident gone bad,” said Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards. “From what we can tell, these people did not know each other at all before the shooting took place. This was not a drug deal or anything like that. From what we can tell, this was road rage gone bad.”

According to reports, officers responded to a shooting call and arrived to find 43-year-old Joseph Jones III standing outside his vehicle next to the stop sign at the intersection of Martha Street and Beverly Avenue.

“Upon their arrival, contact was made with Jones, who reported two unknown suspects followed him and his family around in a red sedan,” APD spokeswoman Phyllis Banks said. “He stated that the red sedan pulled up next to him and the passenger shot at him. Jones stated he returned fire and may have struck the suspects. Upon check of the red sedan, two unidentified black males were found shot inside of it.”

APD Patrolmen Hunter Bowden and Charles Edwards were first on the scene.

“I observed a red Mitsubishi Mirage G4 with the front half of the vehicle on the right side of the curb,” Edwards wrote in his report of the incident. “I observed bullet holes on both sides of the vehicle and broken glass with bullet hole entry points and exit points. Ptl. Bowden and I approached the Mitsubishi, and I observed two black males inside the vehicle. The driver (Strong) of the vehicle appeared to have a bullet hole in the right side of his temple, a bullet hole in the left arm and left hip. The driver was barely breathing when I made contact.”

Edwards goes on to describe the passenger of the Mitsubishi.

“The passenger (Walker) was not breathing,” the report continued. “The passenger had a bullet hole to the forehead. Med Unit 2 and Med Unit 3 responded to the scene.”

Officers then questioned Jones.

“I made contact with Joseph Jones, and he said he was driving in the area because he grew up in the area and was wanting to show his family where he had grown up,” Edwards wrote in the police report. “He said he saw a red Mitsubishi coming from behind his vehicle and pulled up next to his vehicle on the driver side. He stated he saw a flash from the Mitsubishi, and he grabbed his pistol and fired his pistol at the vehicle. He said he drove his vehicle to the stop sign and waited for the police to arrive.”

According to Edwards, there was no evidence to support Jones’ story.

“I cannot say a whole lot about it at this time, because it is an ongoing investigation,” the district attorney said. “There were other people in the car with Jones, but investigators have not found evidence to support his account of the incident. Jones was taken into custody and has been charged with two counts of felony murder.”

Strong is the sixth homicide in Albany during 2017. Other victims include Brenda Forrester, 67 (killed 1/26); Keyon Branch, 24 (killed 1/26); Brian Jeremy White, 26 (killed 2/6); John Lewis Jr., 21 (killed 3/4); and Jalen Walker, 15 (killed 4/22).

“We really want people to put the guns down,” said Edwards. “There has got to be better ways to resolve our differences than shooting one another.”