‘Buy them or else’: Investigator testifies Jibri Bryan was killed in drug deal

The Cluster Archives
Jibri Bryan goes up against a defender in the Bears' game against the Chattanooga Mocs, February 2015.
March 2, 2016
Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.
Email This Story
When Jibri Bryan backed his white Monte Carlo into the Flash Foods parking lot on the corner of College and Forsyth streets, he was there to buy drugs, said a Bibb County investigator.
Joe Kovac Jr. and Amy Leigh Womack of the (Macon) Telegraph reported that during a court hearing Wednesday the investigator recounted a statement made by one of Bryan’s alleged killers, 24-year-old Jarvis Miller, to police.
Miller said his alleged partner, Damion Deray Henderson, tried to sell Bryan fake Xanax. When Bryan refused to buy them, Henderson threatened the Mercer graduate student and basketball player to “buy them or else,” said investigator Shaun Bridger.
Bridger’s testimony matches early hints that drugs were involved. Reporters were told that investigators found $300 in cash and a suspicious bottled substance at the scene.
Unanswered questions remain in the case. Bridger revealed that there are no eyewitnesses to the murder other than Henderson and Miller.
Miller — who was also shot that afternoon — and Henderson’s stories conflict. Henderson said he was standing by the car when he heard gunshots. Miller, however, said that Henderson fired the shots that killed Bryan and then turned the gun on him. The physical evidence in the case matches Miller’s story, Bridger testified.
Reports state that Miller was seen fleeing to the nearby Ronald McDonald House after the shots rang out.
It was there that police found a jammed .380 caliber handgun behind a trash bin at the back of the building, Bridger said.
A 9 mm pistol was found near an abandoned Nissan Sentra that Miller and Henderson rode in to meet Bryan. Shell casings from the 9 mm were found in the Flash Foods parking lot.
Henderson said he borrowed the car from a local woman and left it close to an apartment on Orange Terrace where he sometimes lived with his mother.
Desmond Ringer, Mercer basketball player and close friend of Bryan, declined to comment.
Sports Editor Justin Baxley contributed to this report.

Nicholas is a Southern Studies and Journalism double major at Mercer. He is a junior and serves as The Cluster's Managing Editor. He enjoys the works of...
The Cluster’s comments section is meant to be a place for respectful conversation and reflection on issues and events affecting students at Mercer University. Comments are moderated by the student staff of The Cluster to ensure that those made visible on the website reflect these standards. Harassment, hate, spam and personal attacks on staff members will not be approved. This does not mean that critical comments will be rejected. We welcome diverse perspectives on our reporting and on students’ experiences at Mercer University. Comments will not be approved unless a valid name and email address are submitted. Please also note that our comment moderation system logs IP addresses associated with every comment submitted.
If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a gravatar.