Georgia high school football player Brandon Smith was found shot to death on the eve of his team's first state championship appearance in 25 years.
Adarius Jashawn Williams, 19, was arrested and charged Tuesday with the murder of a 17-year-old athlete whose body was found in a wooded area near a local police station. This was revealed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation..
“During the investigation, it was determined that Mr. Williams shot and killed Mr. Smith following an argument,” the department said.
He did not elaborate on the content of the argument or the relationship between the two.
Smith was last seen on December 7, and was reported missing two days later after failing to return home.
His body was discovered on December 10 behind a house on Third Avenue in Manchester. It was the day before his team played in the Georgia 1-A state football championship.
Smith's grandmother, who raised him from an early age, said she had previously tried to call him on her cell phone but was unable to reach him.
She told the Post that she felt like something was bothering her grandson, but he never told her what it was.
“He looked like he wanted to tell me something he couldn't tell me,” she said in a phone interview last month about her final moments with him before he slipped out of the house.
“I'm not going to rest until the person who killed my grandson is caught,” Maxine Smith said after Manchester High School football coach Stephen Holmes delivered the bad news to her family.
His teammates honored him by holding up their No. 52 jerseys as they took to the field before a one-point loss in the state championship game.
“His game, all his teammates, football was everything to him,” the devastated grandmother said of the “senseless” murder. “And he wanted to make it, but his life was cut short.”
Meriwether Schools Superintendent Robert Griffin and Manchester High School Principal Suze Neal wrote a letter to the community.
“Unfortunately, the event celebrating Manchester High School's appearance in the Georgia 1-A State Football Championship turned out to be something none of us could have imagined.”
“We are heartbroken to hear of the tragic and untimely death of one of our student-athletes, Brandon Smith,” they said.
Smith said her grandson was always “kind to people” and wanted him to be remembered for his goodness.
Williams was booked into the Meriwether County Jail. The GBI said the investigation is “active and ongoing.”
