RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. – In a tragic incident on April 30, 2024, at Augusta’s Cedarwood Apartments, 14-year-old Anthony Harrison lost his life to gun violence.

The alleged shooter has been identified as 15-year-old Darryaun Tanksley.

“I vividly recall attending the funeral of that young man, feeling a deep frustration that we constantly direct our resources toward reacting to these tragedies. Why aren’t we investing more in prevention to avert such incidents?” expressed District Attorney Jared Williams.

Youth violence is a persistent issue that has troubled communities for years.

Back in 2014, Rev. Dr. Larry Fryer addressed the Georgia legislature, stating, “Our children are in conflict with each other, they confront us, and tragically, they are dying right before us.”

“Do you think anything has changed in eleven years?”

“No,” said Dr. Fryer. “Matter of fact it has worsened since the time I did this speech in the capitol in Atlanta.”

In Richmond County from 2021 until now, 17 homicides were committed by youth 17 and under.

Add in assault, rape, robbery and other lesser crimes for a total of more than 6,800 cases.

“They are dying in the home, in the schools…issues in the church, especially in the community where they go each and every day,” said Dr. Fryer.

Dr.Fryer, frustrated by the senseless violence plaguing our youth reached out to me at NewsChannel 6 and asked if I’d be willing to host a Youth Violence Summit.  

We invited a dozen people and 12 people came.

The mayor, the District Attorney, and a juvenile court judge were there. Along with representatives from Law Enforcement, local non-profits, educators and clergy.

Each brought to the table a different perspective on juvenile crime, its causes and possible solutions and all agreed it starts in the home.

“Parents I think first, then it’s going to take our government to support these parents, it’s going to take the school system, it’s going to take our churches, but it must begin in the home and then it spreads abroad,” said Dr. Fryer.

Judge Willie Saunders presides over juvenile court in Augusta.

“Part of the reason it is juvenile court is that we understand that children are children and children make mistakes.”

Saunders points out that brains don’t fully mature until about age 25.

“A lot of things are done on impulses. A lot of violent offences occur on impulse,” said Judge Saunders.

And the consequences can be life altering.

“The road can be hard. It can be hard reestablishing yourself after you’ve been convicted of an armed robbery even though it may have been at age 14.”

Easy access to guns makes the problem worse. Sheriff Gino Brantley says some kids just walk by cars and pull on the handle in search of weapons.

“We don’t keep safe those weapons as we should,” said Sheriff Brantley. “We don’t lock them in our cars.  We don’t take them in the house.”

District Attorney Jared Williams recalls a case he prosecuted in Athens, Georgia. Williams says two groups of kids were at odds, saw on social media that one group was in downtown Athens. The DA says Pharoah Williams shot into the crowd.  Seven people were hurt. None seriously but the severity of the crime meant someone had to be punished.

“What those kids didn’t know at that moment was what they were trying to do was gain respect and what they did instead was gain 140 years of prison exposure, twenty years for every one of those shots,” said DA Williams.

Pharoah Williams, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 20 years probation.

The cost of youth violence in Georgia alone is enormous. According to the CDC, it soared to $122 billion in 2020.

Some communities are now looking to spend more money on prevention.

Video shot and edited by Photo Journalist Dania Alawir

Next time on “Saving Our Children”, you’ll meet an Arkansas Judge whose town came together to combat youth violence. The results are amazing.