High school senior killed at house party

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A young man is dead after a house party in Henry County.

Police found blood on the door when they arrived around 1:40 a.m. Saturday to a residence on the 1000 block of Maria Drive in McDonough.

Soon after entering the house, police received a call from the staff at Henry-Piedmont Hospital who said they had a man with a gunshot wound. He later died at the hospital.

The victim was identified by his father as Jesse Thomas, 17. He was a senior at Stockbridge High School and set to graduate this month.

"My last conversation, my last words were 'I love you,'" the victim's father, Jamal Sullivan, said.

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Thomas' father said Jesse and his older brother attended a party at the house and things started to get noisy.

"He (Thomas) came back to the front door and noticed it was wide open. He noticed those three guys standing there. He basically was like 'In or out? We're going to close the door because we don't want people running in and out of the house,'" Sullivan said.

He said an argument with three teenaged boys quickly escalated. According to the victim's father, one of the teenagers pulled out a gun and shot into the crowd, hitting his son.

"He had no rhyme or reason. He had no aim. They say he just shot in the crowd," Sullivan said.

Henry County police are interviewing more than 50 party goers to put together what happened. Investigators are not releasing many details at this time.

There are no suspects at this time, but Sullivan said police have some leads.

"Just turn yourself in, man. Please, they're going to find you," Sullivan said.

A Henry County Schools spokesperson sent the following statement:

"Our condolences go out to this student's family during this very difficult time. It is our hope that law enforcement is able to quickly find those responsible for this tragedy. We will have extra counselors at school on Monday to meet with students and staff members needing to speak with someone."

Cox Media Group