Suspect captured in Columbus double-homicide on Fort Benning Road, police say

Columbus police have charged a suspect in an April 10 shooting that left two men dead

Arrested Wednesday in Phenix City, Elijah Smith is charged with two counts each of murder and using a gun to commit a crime in the shooting that killed Marque Humber and Nakevius Petty, authorities said.

According to Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman, his office’s Drug, Gang, and Fugitive Task Force helped Phenix City police and federal agents capture Smith, who was being held Thursday in the Russell County jail, awaiting his extradition to Columbus.

Columbus police said officers were called around 6:30 pm. April 10 to the 1200 block of Fort Benning Road, where they found Petty and Humber wounded.

Each was rushed by ambulance to Piedmont Columbus Regional, where Humber died at 6:48 pm. and Petty at 7:21 p.m., investigators said. Both were 19 years old.

Police got warrants for Smith’s arrest the next day, police said.

Anyone with information on the shooting may contact Sgt. Thomas Hill at 706-225-4345 or thill@columbusga.org.

This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 11:59 AM.

Tim Chitwood

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

706-571-8508

Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.