A Macon woman accused of shooting a teen near her house allegedly used racial slurs against him, the Macon Telegraph reports.

Elisabeth Cannon was arrested Monday night on charges of aggravated assault in connection with shooting 15-year-old Vernon Marcus Jr., who was walking past her house just before 8 p.m., investigators told the newspaper.

Marcus was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

Elisabeth Cannon (Credit: Bibb County Sheriff’s Office)
icon to expand image

At a first-appearance hearing in Bibb Magistrate Court on Tuesday afternoon, testimony emerged that Cannon had admitted to a sheriff’s deputy at the scene that she had fired several shots, Bibb County sheriff’s Sgt. Pamela Williams said.

“Just to scare the gentlemens that was walking near her property, and she didn’t mean to hit one of them,” Williams said at the hearing.

Williams told the Telegraph that Cannon had called authorities earlier in the day Monday to report “three black males (who) had been throwing rocks at her house three days prior to this incident. ... Miss Cannon had basically said that if they come back in her yard or in her area, she was gonna shoot them. And less than three to four hours later, we get a call (about a shooting).”

Williams also said the person with Marcus told investigators that Cannon had in the past “been harassing them, claiming that they’ve been breaking into her house. ... He also said that she’s used several racial slurs towards them.”

Cannon was in jail Tuesday, being held in lieu of $12,400 bond.