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Apartment complex residents react to shooting death
Crime scene tape

The reaction among neighbors at Plantation Apartments Monday was mixed after a shooting death there over the weekend.

According to the Richmond Hill Police Department, Breona Watkins, 29, was shot around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. She was transported by EMS to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah where she later died. Her husband, 32-year-old Jeremiah Joel Watkins, turned himself in at the Hinesville Police Department Sunday afternoon.

He remains in the Bryan County Jail on a charge of felony murder.

According to neighbors’ accounts, the shooting occurred toward the front of the apartment complex, closest to Harris Trail, possibly between the “A” and “B” buildings. One woman, who did not want to give her name, said the area between the buildings was surrounded by police tape Sunday morning, and that the tape was gone by Sunday afternoon.

Leanne Sanchez, who lives around the corner in the complex from where the shooting occurred, said she did not hear anything at the time.

“I feel terrible for her, but I was glad when I found out this wasn’t a random thing,” she said. “This is a safe place. The kids are always outside playing together.”

Another neighbor, who did not want to give her name, agreed.

“People think because this is subsidized housing that it’s the ghetto or something, but it’s not,” she said. “I’ve got two kids. I wouldn’t live here if it was dangerous.

“Things like this happen,” she added. “This just happened here. It could have been anywhere in Richmond Hill.”

Other neighbors in the complex were not even aware Monday morning that the shooting had occurred.

Plantation Apartments is a large complex, comprising some three dozen buildings in two phases spread out over seven streets running off of Casey Drive across from Richmond Hill High School.

The RHPD said the case remains under investigation and that anyone with information is asked to call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Statesboro office at (912) 871-1121.

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