A man who was injured in a shooting at a Cherokee County house party in 2021 that left a 14-year-old dead has been arrested on multiple counts, including murder and gang charges, authorities said.
Jaden Simmons, 22, of Mableton, was arrested Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of Landon Andrews more than three years ago, the Cherokee sheriff’s office said in a statement. Simmons was 19 at the time and was also injured during the shooting, sustaining gunshot wounds to his hand and elbow.
Credit: Cherokee County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Cherokee County Sheriff's Office
Simmons and Andrews were both attending the large house party near Lake Allatoona when shots were fired Oct. 17, 2021, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies responding to the home on Victoria Road arrived to a chaotic scene, with multiple cars driving away and people running from the house. Andrews was found in the back of an SUV with a gunshot wound to the torso, the sheriff’s office said. He was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital but died from his injuries.
Simmons showed up later at Northside Cherokee Hospital seeking treatment for his own gunshot wounds, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Shawnda Schafer, Andrews’ mother, thought her son was sleeping over at a friend’s house that night, she told the AJC. She rushed to the scene of the party, but by the time she arrived, her son had already been taken to the hospital. Schafer learned from her son’s friends that he had been shot in the stomach, and she waited for hours at the hospital only to learn that Andrews would not survive.
Only then was she allowed into the room, where she sat at her 14-year-old son’s beside, holding his hand and touching his hair until the state coroner came to collect his body for an autopsy by the GBI.
In the weeks after the shooting, investigators struggled to get witnesses to come forward with good information, the sheriff’s office said. They learned that the incident might have stemmed from a fight at an apartment earlier the same night. The sheriff’s office released video footage of the fight, which happened in a unit at the West 22 Apartments in Kennesaw. Investigators said they sought two persons of interest in the case, but no one was named a suspect.
Schafer made a public plea to other parents whose children attended the party, begging for information that would lead to the arrest of her son’s killer.
“For the parents whose children were there, I think it’s such a blessing that they get to see their child, and at the same time, while I understand that some parents are trying to possibly protect their children, the police don’t care about anything that was going on at that home ... they just want to find who did this,” Schafer said.
Whether Schafer’s pleas went unheard or ignored, they did not result in any concrete clues in the investigation at the time. The case remained open for more than three years before investigators received new information in recent weeks, according to the sheriff’s office. Officials did not share details about how they identified Simmons as the suspected shooter.
He was taken into custody Sunday on charges of murder, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children, violating Georgia’s Street Gang and Terrorism Prevention Act and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was booked into the Cherokee jail and remains there without bond. According to jail records, Simmons also has an active arrest warrant out of Douglas County.
About the Author
