A fourth member of an Athens street gang will spend decades in prison for his role in the deadly shooting of a rival gang associate in 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Thursday.
Jaden Appling pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and related charges for the shooting death of 24-year-old Ja’Vanni McDavid in Athens on March 5, 2023.
Appling, 21, was then sentenced to 35 years, with the first 20 to be served in prison and the remainder on strict probation.
Appling’s three co-defendants – Anthony Brown, Glendarius Tate and X’Zydric Faust – were all sentenced to 35 years after pleading guilty to multiple charges in the fatal shooting last September. Carr said they’ll serve the first 25 years in prison and the rest on strict probation.
The attorney general said the four are members of Everybody Killa (EBK), a “hybrid criminal street gang” based in Athens, which has ties to the national Bloods gang. Carr said EBK is also associated with Everybody Eats (EBE), another hybrid criminal street gang in Athens.
Carr said EBK and EBE are “engaged in a violent feud” with the Red Tape Gang (RTG), another hybrid gang based in Athens – with which McDavid was associated.
Carr said the feud has resulted in several shootings and homicides throughout Athens-Clarke County since 2021, including the deaths of McDavid and 3-year-old Kyron Santino Zarco Smith.
Shortly after midnight on March 5, 2023, Ja’Vanni McDavid was driving four friends away from a party in the Five Points neighborhood of Athens. When McDavid stopped at the intersection of Northview Drive and Pinecrest Drive, a second vehicle – a white Honda Accord – passed through the intersection next to McDavid’s vehicle.
A few seconds later, the Honda stopped “and multiple occupants of that vehicle opened fire on McDavid’s vehicle.”
McDavid and his friends returned fire. Carr said ballistic and trajectory evidence suggests that McDavid was mistakenly shot by one of his friends during the firefight. He died from his injury.
Investigators discovered that McDavid was an associate of the Red Tape Gang, and the defendants were members of Everybody Killa. The defendants decided to open fire on McDavid’s vehicle when they recognized him as an associate of their rival gang, according to Carr.
Carr said police tracked the Honda to the Bethel Midtown Village apartments in Athens, where surveillance footage showed four armed people entering and exiting the vehicle.
The four suspects were later identified as Appling, 20-year-old Anthony Brown, 22-year-old Glendarius Tate and 17-year-old X’Zydric Faust.
Carr said the Honda belonged to Brown, who was arrested at his Athens home, where police also found a 9mm pistol. Carr said the gun matched evidence at the crime scene. Investigators said Brown admitted to driving the Honda and shooting the gun.
Police also arrested Appling and Tate in Athens. Both reportedly admitted to riding in Brown’s vehicle and possessing firearms.
Faust was arrested in Seminole, Florida.
Along with one count of voluntary manslaughter, Appling pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated assault, two counts of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and one count of first-degree criminal damage to property.