A mother with two young children was the inadvertent victim of a drive-by shooting last week in Gray. Fortunately, the bullets damaged only her car and neighboring houses.

Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe said 14 warrants have been issued for arrests in the June 8 incident, which occurred on Maggie Califf Street near the Ninth Grade Academy. Nine of those charged are juveniles.

Lowe said Lt. Eric Maynard of the Gray Police Department is in charge of the investigation.

The shooting started about 10 p.m., according to Lowe. He said the police were alerted when Virginia Clowers reported that her 2001 Explorer had been shot while she was traveling on Maggie Califf headed toward Highview Street. Her young son was strapped into the back seat on the passenger side near where the bullets hit the outside of the car, and her daughter was in the front passenger seat.

Lowe said the investigation of the incident began immediately, and GPD officers were assisted that evening by Lt. Calvin Pitts and Deputy Boisey Hunt of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.

He said officers began by checking the scene and talking to neighbors. Lowe said about lunchtime the next day, the department received a call from a lady on Dolly Street with some information about the identities of the youths involved.

“We started bringing in juveniles from Gray and found out they had been arguing with juveniles from Northeast High School in Macon. It took us a while to start identifying them because we were getting mostly street names,” the chief explained.

Lowe said it appears that the juveniles in Gray started calling the juveniles in Macon and challenging them to fight. After several calls, the teenagers in Macon decided to come to Gray. Apparently the Macon group was at the Ninth Grade Academy when Octavious Rashad Jackson, accompanied by a juvenile, drove his Explorer into the parking area.

“They saw a group of guys running toward them with rocks and guns in their hands. They were yelling, and shots were fired. Jackson backed up, took off on Maggie Califf, and took a right on Dolly Street,” Lowe said.

He said, at this point, the entire entourage from Macon was chasing the vehicle, trying to cut it off.

“Ms. Clowers had left her mother’s residence and was headed home. When the group saw her Explorer, they opened fire, hitting the driver’s side door and her right back tire,” Lowe said.

He said three bullets hit a house on Maggie Califf Street. A person was asleep in the house but said she did not hear the shots.

After shooting at the Explorer, the group from Macon got back in their cars, a silver Mercury and a green Pontiac, and headed back.

“We have identified everyone in the group with the exception of one adult who was one of the shooters,” Lowe said.

He said the weapons used in the shooting were a revolver and a 380 pistol. An AK-47 was reported at the scene but was not used. Lowe said two juveniles from Gray are being charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

“They wanted us to think they were victims, but they enticed the guys from Macon to come here,” he added.

Jackson, 17, is also charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. Lowe said seven juveniles, ages 15-16, have been charged as parties to a crime for: aggravated assault, weapons in a school safety zone, and criminal damage to property. He said the charges are felonies.

Three adults from Macon have also been charged. Vindarious Glover is charged with aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, weapons in a school safety zone, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Daniel Butler, 17, is charged with aggravated assault, weapons in a school safety zone, and party to a crime. Jarrell Holland, 17, is charged with aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and weapons in a school safety zone.

Lowe said the investigation of the crime is ongoing, and he feels the shooting was the result of continuing issues between the two groups that were going on during the school year.

“Some of these juveniles from Macon are gang affiliated, and there has been a conflict between these groups from Jones County and Northeast High School,” he noted.

The chief said his department has worked with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

“Robert Reece, Gerry Nelson, Calvin Pitts and Boisey Hunt have been great during this investigation,” he stated.

Lowe said he plans to push for the maximum sentence on the charges.

“We want to stop this kind of behavior. We want these sentences to be significant for the juveniles as well as adults so these criminals understand that we will not tolerate drive-by shootings here,” he said. “Most of the people that are hurt or killed in this type of situation are the innocent who have nothing to do with the conflict.”

Lowe said the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force is serving the warrants, and he hopes to have all the offenders in front of a judge by the end of the week.