Former Columbus High teacher says homicide victim ‘didn’t have an enemy’

Two days after a 25-year-old man was shot and killed on Branton Woods Drive, his former teacher at Columbus High School said she is still in shock.

“Some kids have people that don’t like them, but Seawright was just one of those who didn’t have an enemy in the world,” Carol Etheridge Wingard said of Bobby Jerome Seawright Jr., who she taught African-American literature in 2009. “I’m still in shock. Everybody that knows him is.”

Wingard, who is now retired, said she was browsing Facebook Saturday night when she learned that one of her most memorable and brilliant students was killed. She said he was destined for greatness after having graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2013 with a degree in sports medicine.

“He was smart, funny and so polite and respectful of everybody,” she said. “He talked about his mother so sweetly. He always went to church every Sunday and he would tell us funny stories about church.”

Wingard said Seawright was the second student from her 2009 American literature class to be killed. The first was Marylul Poupart, who was a 21-year-old student at Columbus State University when she was choked to death in July 2012.

“I don’t know the circumstances, and I didn’t know anything about a suspect at the time,” the retiree said about Seawright’s death. “I was just like here is another fine, young black man murdered in the streets.”

Police have yet to release the motive of the shooting that killed Seawright, who was found lying next to his running vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds.

Lt. Greg Touchberry said the victim had just dropped a friend off at his home when he came in contact with the unidentified suspect, who was described as a black man between the age of 19 and 30 who was last seen wearing a gray hoodie sweatshirt and dark pants. He is about 5-feet-8-inches tall and weighs between 150 and 180 pounds, according to police.

“This interaction led to Mr. Seawright stopping his vehicle near the intersection of Branton Lane and Branton Woods Drive,” Touchberry said. “Mr. Seawright was then shot and the suspect fled the area on foot.”

Anyone with information about the homicide or a man seen walking in traffic or throwing objects at vehicles in the area of Woodruff Farm Road should contact Cpl. DJ Stokes at 706-225-4242 or call 911.

This story was originally published December 19, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Former Columbus High teacher says homicide victim ‘didn’t have an enemy’."