GBI Makes Arrests in Jeff Davis County Shooting Investigation

Hazlehurst, GA (March 24, 2023) – The GBI has arrested and charged Miguel Contreras, 19, with Aggravated Assault, and Augustine Medrano, 20, with Party to the Crime of Aggravated Assault and Hindering the Apprehension of a Criminal. Both are from Omega, Tift County, GA.

On Sunday, March 19, 2023, the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office asked the GBI to investigate a shooting that occurred at an event center in the 500 block of Baxley Highway, in Hazlehurst. Preliminary information indicates that Contreras, with the assistance of Medrano, shot Juan Morena, 18, of Omega, GA, multiple times at approximately 12:00 a.m. on March 19, 2023. Moreno was first taken to the local hospital before being taken to Navicent Medical Center in Macon, where he is expected to make a full recovery.

Contreras and Medrano were booked into the Jeff Davis County Jail. The GBI was assisted by the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office, the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office, the Tift County Sheriff’s Office, the Tifton Police Department, the Omega Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force (SERFTF).

This investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office at (912) 375-6600 or the GBI Region 4 Douglas Office at (912) 389-4103. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.