A Georgia man died after he shot himself just before police were able to question him about four escaped inmates who remain on the run, according to law enforcement.
Christian Demond Williams, 23, died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Macon, Georgia, the Associated Press reported, citing Bibb County deputies. Williams is said to have shot himself after the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrived at an apartment in Macon to question him about the four escaped inmates.
Investigators received a tip that Williams had information about the escapees, and when they arrived at the apartment, a bullet fired through the door of the apartment, authorities said. A SWAT team was called, and a woman inside the apartment told officers that Williams had shot himself, and showed authorities where he was. Williams was wounded, but still alive, and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he died.
No officers fired their guns, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told reporters. Williams’ death was ruled a suicide.
Williams turned out to be a fugitive suspected of murder, and had been missing since March 5, the night before he was supposed to be tried for murder. Williams was accused of shooting to death a man at a convenience store in 2021.
It was alleged that Williams had been kidnapped that night, since a security camera showed him being attacked by two men on his front porch, but Davis and District Attorney Anita Howard both indicated they doubted the kidnapping theory.
The four inmates Williams was to be questioned about broke out of the Bibb County Detention Center on the morning of October 16 through a damaged day room window and a cut fence, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post at the time. The escape occurred around 3:00 a.m., with a blue Dodge Challenger pulling up outside the jail and transporting the inmates away.
That Dodge Challenger was recovered on Friday, the sheriff’s office said. The vehicle was located in the parking lot of a Biomat USA – a facility that collects blood plasma donations. The building is less than two miles from the jail.
Sheriff Davis said in the post that he “appreciates the tips and every lead that we have received is being followed up on.”
The escaped inmates include 52-year-old Joey Fournier, a white male with gray hair and blue eyes who was being held at the detention center for alleged murder. The other three inmates are 24-year-old Marc Kerry Anderson, a black man being held for aggravated assault; 37-year-old Johnifer Dernard Barnwell, a black man being detained for the United States Marshals; and 29-year-old Chavis Demaryo Stokes, a black man being held for possession of a firearm and drug trafficking.
The Sheriff’s Office asked anyone with information about the possible location of these inmates to call the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the United States Marshal Service at 1-877-WANTED2. Tips may also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov or through the USMS Tips app.