‘Mommy, I’m shot’: Augusta man charged in 2023 slaying of Wrens teen
WRENS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - More than a year after a 19-year-old was shot and killed in her home in Wrens, another step has been made toward finding justice.
On Tuesday, officials with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said investigators, along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, charged Jessie Louis Brown Jr., 31, with the shooting death of Khia Shields.
Shields was sleeping in her mother’s home last August when a gunshot came through the wall and hit her in the chest. She died at the hospital.
Shields had big dreams for her future. She was a student at Georgia Southern, majoring in physical education when she came home for her birthday last year.
All of those dreams were taken from her and since then, her family and friends have been advocating for justice.
It’s a never-ending nightmare, that keeps replaying in Khia’s mother, Shareka Pitts’ head.
“I just never imagined that would have happened to me. I would never want to imagine it happening to anyone else, to see their child in pain, to see their child shot,” said Pitts.
On Aug. 26, 2023, her world was taken from her when the sound of gunshots woke her up.
“By the time I was gonna get ready to leave my bedroom, she was coming in, and she just looked at me,” said Pitts. “I looked at her, and she had her hands held down, so I’m looking and she was like, ‘Mommy, mommy, I’m shot.’”
Since then, her family and friends have looked for answers.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a year and two months,” she said.
Now some of their questions are finally getting answered.
“It was a different thought process every day. Will I get justice? Will they find him? It was just questions that I had, like, why? It was a different question every day that came across my mind,” said Pitts.
As they look for more answers, she’s holding onto every memory she has with her and ing the kind of person she was.
“She was feisty, but you know she just was this lovable, fun and smart girl,” she said. She was just, she was just that girl.”
The sheriff’s office says this investigation isn’t over. They say they anticipate more arrests related to this case
Brown is being held in the Jefferson County Jail.
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On the one-year anniversary on Shields’ death, her mother spoke about the outpouring of , including the mayor and Wrens police chief, who were there.
Pitts said, “It means a whole lot. One call that’s all - come out and speak.”
The pain hurts just as badly as if it were yesterday.
“It still hurts. It still hurts knowing that I have to get up every day and not see her and not talk to her. It’s still it’s still a part. Painful memory is still painful to this day,” said Pitts.
There are still so many unanswered questions.
“When we get justice, after we get justice, I’m still gonna lift her up. I’m still gonna celebrate her, you know I wish this on no one. This is a hard pill to swallow, you know, burying your own child,” said Pitts.
Pitts says she plans on opening a scholarship in Sheilds’ name in the near future.
This is still an ongoing investigation and more arrests are anticipated, the sheriff’s office says.
Anyone with information about this case can call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division at 478-625-7538 or the GBI at 706-595-2575.
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