From a gun violence standpoint, 2026 had been unusually quiet, relative to Baldwin County.
Then came last weekend, when law enforcement responded to three different shooting scenes in a span of 26 hours.
When it was all said and done, there were two shooting victims, a father and his daughter. That incident occurred shortly after midnight on Friday. Ultimately arrested was Eric Veal, Jr., 27, who stands accused of shooting his father and sister. He had no previous criminal history in Baldwin County.
The younger Veal remained at the scene and was rendering first aid to his father when law enforcement began converging on the 2260 block of Kings Row, located of of Dunlap Road. Eric Veal, Sr. was shot in the upper torso, while the female victim was shot in a gluteus muscle.
All totalled, Veal, Jr. fired off at least 10 shots, two of which struck the house next door. One of the bullets traveled through the living room of the nextdoor home and damaged a television. Veal, Jr. was charged with six counts of aggravated assault, one apiece for his father and sister, as well as four for the number of people who were inside the house next door.
It began as a verbal altercation and a slight physical altercation,” said Maj. Brandon Sellers with the Milledgeville Police Department. “From what we gather, Junior walked back outside and got a gun out of his vehicle. The shooting occurred in the yard.”
Veal, Sr. posted a video to Facebook roughly 18 hours after being shot. In the video, Veal, Sr. is lying on his back in a hospital bed in Macon.
“I’m good everybody,” he says.
While MPD detectives were on Kings Row, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office detectives were on the southside after gunfire was exchanged at 165 Thompson Circle, located off of the Vinson Highway. That incident happened around 11 a.m. Thursday. No one was shot or injured. Roughly two dozen people were at the property during the time of the shooting, including many children. There had been a death in the family recently, and people were gathered at the home as part of the wake. Two different people returned fire from the yard. It’s believed that the man on the other end of the gunfire parked nearby and walked up to the property.
It marked the third different shooting incident in the vicinity of 168 Thompson Circle this year, according to Maj. Brad King with the BCSO. Back in April, an Athens man was shot in front of the same property.
“Clearly, there’s an issue,” King said.
No arrests had been made as of press time.
Also late Thursday and early Friday, while the MPD was on Kings Row and the BCSO was on Thompson Circle, a man checked himself into Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin with a gunshot wound. Detectives, however, ultimately concluded that that shooting occurred in Hancock County, and the case was turned over to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
Meanwhile, around 1 a.m. Saturday, gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the old daycare center at 2268 Irwinton Road, which is now a defacto event center. A deputy was nearby and heard the shots. The deputy quickly responded, and a security guard approached the patrol vehicle and pointed the deputy in the direction of a black sedan leaving the scene.
The black sedan was pulled over, and all four occupants were arrested. Recovered were three handguns, two of which were stolen. The other – a Glock 40 caliber – had a makeshift “switch” attached to it, allowing it to act as an automatic weapon. Arrested were:
• Demarion Ahmad Baker, 17, of Milledgeville – aggravated assault (two counts), possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a handgun by person under 18, felony theft by receiving;
• Jamar Leishon Bolston, 19, of Milledgeville – aggravated assault (two counts), possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, felony theft by receiving;
• Travion Williams, 17, of Milledgeville - aggravated assault (two counts), possession of a handgun by someone under 18, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime;
• Mario Finney, Jr., 18, of Milledgeville - aggravated assault (two counts), possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, felony theft by receiving.