Cartersville Teen Charged As Adult in New Year's Eve Murder

(Photos: Randy Deforrest Frederick and Trent Lee Jacobs. Credit: PCSO)

A Cartersville boy is one of two teenagers charged as an adult in the New Year’s Eve shooting death during a drug deal gone bad.

The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office has charged Cartersville resident Randy Deforrest Frederick, 16, and Trent Lee Jacobs, 15, with murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault — all felonies — in the shooting death of 18-year-old Gage McGee.

Sheriff’s office spokesperson Corporal Ashley Henson said that while both teens are considered juveniles by the state of Georgia, they will be tried as adults in Paulding County Superior Court.

According to the sheriff’s office’s press release, deputies responded a call of a deceased person around 2:51 p.m. Dec. 31 on Bryan Miller Road in the western part of the county.

Once they arrived onto the scene, they found McGee dead in his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the chest.

“Once detectives began speaking with the victim’s friends and some witnesses, they began to piece together what had occurred,” said Henson.

Along with Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency’s Criminal Investigation Division conducted a “thorough” investigation and learned both Frederick and Jacobs arranged to meet with McGee for the purpose of purchasing marijuana, the agency said.

“The trio had arranged to meet at the water tank on Bryan Miller Road for the transaction,” Henson added.

The victim drove to the scene in his vehicle while the two teenagers walked to the location on foot. Once McGeen showed up, he was met with Frederick and Jacobs, “who produced a gun with the intent of robbing McGee.”

“During the robbery, there was some type of altercation which led to McGee getting shot,“ Henson added. “Once McGee got shot, he got back inside his vehicle and tried to flee the scene for help.”

The victim, Henson, added, “did not make it very far before he succumbed to his injuries and crashed the vehicle.”

Both Frederick and Jacobs came to the sheriff’s office on New Year’s Day to speak with detectives about the incident, and they were charged in the incident soon after.

Both teens are being held without bond in this case. One individual is being held in the Marietta Regional Youth Detention Center while the other is at the Bob Richards Regional Youth Detention Center in Rome.

Patch Editor Scott Bernarde contributed to this article