Arrest Made In DeKalb College Student's Shooting Death

SAVANNAH, GA — Authorities have arrested a man they say shot and killed a Savannah State University student from Dekalb County.

Justin Devon Stephens, 23, was arrested without incident Thursday by Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, Savannah Police Department officers and members of the Georgia State Patrol, the GBI announced Friday.

The arrest was for the August 2015 shooting of Christopher Starks, 22, at the Student Union at Savannah State. Starks was a junior at the university and a graduate of Miller Grove High School in Lithonia, where he was a star wide receiver on the football team and sang in the school chorus. Before his senior year, he attended and played football at Southwest DeKalb High School.

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He briefly played college football at Appalachian State University before injuring his knee and transferring to Savannah State to be closer to home.

Last month, a grand jury indicted Stephens on 10 counts related to the shooting, including murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and firearm offenses.

According to the GBI, the two men were involved in an argument outside the Student Union and Starks was shot. He was taken to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, where he was pronounced dead.

Starks' family has filed a lawsuit against the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents, claiming the state knew there had been multiple violent crimes on and around the campus and done nothing to prevent them. No security guards or campus police were in the Student Union or its parking lot at the time of the shooting, according to the family's lawsuit.

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