The two men charged in Friday’s shooting death of a Grovetown woman outside a Deans Bridge nightclub told authorities that they shot at the victim’s car in self-defense.
Julius Morris III, 39, told authorities that victim Makala Perkins had rammed her vehicle into his before leaving the parking lot of Suz Lounge. Perkins reportedly later returned around 4:30 a.m. Friday, with someone yelling that she was coming back.
According to authorities, a 911 call recorded Morris telling his friend, Raheem Carter, to “get that b**ch.” Carter said he ran toward the victim and shot at the car after someone screamed that she had returned to the area.
Both Morris and Carter were charged Friday with murder and weapons offenses. Carter, 29, is a convicted felon, leading to a charge of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
The suspects’ story seems to match the account of a female eyewitness, who went live on social media to say the victim was drunk and mad when she wasn’t allowed to return inside the club to retrieve her phone. (Video below. Warning: Video contains obscenities that some may find offensive.)
“She decided she was going to turn the (obscenity) car into a battering ram and hit another car that hit another car that pinned two people between another car,” the witness said.
The unidentified witness claims the victim was shooting her own gun when she returned. That has not been confirmed. The witness also claims that one man got pinned between a car and was injured by the victim’s earlier actions.
Both suspects denied involvement in the shootings when first interviewed by officers. But they reportedly confessed after being confronted with surveillance video showing Carter firing at the victim’s vehicle as she drove down Deans Bridge Road.
After the shooting, Perkins was rushed to Augusta University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:33 a.m. Friday. She was 23 years old.
Both men are being held without bond at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center.
