The murder suspect accused in the March death of Augusta teen Buddy Brown Jr. outside Richmond Summit Apartments has been extradited from Pennsylvania.
Gregory Thornton, 30, was captured last month with the help of the U.S. Marshal’s Office, and he was extradited Friday to Augusta to face murder and other charges connected to the shooting death of the 13-year-old victim.
A co-defendant, 34-year-old Tia Shante Jackson, was captured April 5 in West Virginia and held for extradition on charges of murder, carjacking and criminal attempted felony. She once lived in Augusta but has another address listed as Martinsburg, W.Va.
The juvenile victim was fatally shot at least one time with a .45-caliber handgun on March 28 at Richmond Summit Apartments where he was staying on Broad Street in Augusta. He had gone outside to pick up a DoorDash delivery and never made it back inside. A motive is unclear.
After the killing, authorities say the suspects likely followed the DoorDash driver to Gordon Highway. At some point, the suspects tried to carjack the woman’s Dodge Journey, demanding she roll down the window. But they were unsuccessful and returned to their Chevrolet Camaro.
Jackson then drove them to Smart Grocery on Wrightsboro Road where a Hyundai Elantra was occupied by another individual who was also entering the parking lot. Thornton approached the male driver from behind, removed the individual from the Hyundai and fled the scene.
But Thornton wrecked the Hyundai into a tree at another location, so he got back in the Camaro with Jackson and they fled the area, authorities said.
According to a Baltimore TV station, investigators tied Thornton and the female to the killing and then got a tip that they fled had turned up in Harford County, Md., where Thornton was from. In April, federal marshals surrounded an apartment in Edgewood, Md., where investigators believe Thornton had been hiding.
As agents moved in, Thornton pulled up in a black Camaro with racing stripes, but he took off after seeing cops, and they stopped the chase when it became too dangerous, WBFF-TV reported.
