On the night of May 6, 2023, a gathering on the 100 block of East Main Street in Fort Valley, Georgia, was being dispersed by police when shots were fired into the crowd. Twenty-seven-year-old Vintavious Tra'Bobbi Sanders of Warner Robins was struck and taken to Atrium Health Navicent in Macon for treatment. He died of his injuries on the afternoon of May 8, 2023, and his body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for autopsy.

Known to friends and family as Tae, Sanders worked at the Academy Sports warehouse in Twiggs County and was remembered for making music and entertaining those close to him. The Fort Valley Police Department, assisted by the GBI, opened a homicide investigation and later identified a suspect. On October 12, 2023, authorities arrested Johnquavis Rutledge and charged him with Sanders’ murder; he was taken to a regional detention center in Macon and the investigation remains ongoing.

If anyone who attended that event or who knew Vintavious has information that could help, please come forward.