GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) — Thursday, agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, along with Glynn County Police Officers and other emergency leaders met on St Simons Island. The group met in an events venue next to the park where a rally demanding Justice for Trent Lerkamp is set for Saturday afternoon.
The community activist organizing that rally, Theahwanza Brooks, is the aunt to Ahmaud Abury. When we talked with her on Thursday, nine days after the latest attack on Lehrkamp, she wanted to know what police were doing, and why none of the teenagers involved were in jail.
“There weren’t really many questions answered,” Brooks said.
She’s talking about a media briefing, streamed live by WSAV, on Wednesday. Interim Glynn County Police Chief O’Neil Jackson told reporters that investigators had cell phones from the teens being questioned and that evidence was being collected.
Among the chief’s pleas for people in the community is to have patience. A spokesperson for the county interrupted with the statement, “we’ve only got time for two more questions, he’s a busy man and we’ve got to go.”
Brooks was among the people watching the live stream, surprised by what she heard.
“I don’t know much about the new chief, interim. However, I can tell you that when your secretary of whomever she is says publicly that you’re too busy to answer questions, then that makes me question what do you have time for?”
It was only after questions from the WSAV Investigative Unit that Jackson admitted the attacks on Lehrkamp were indeed not hazing, a term associated with the case by police over the weekend.
While answering questions from reporters, Jackson said officers were called to the home where at least one of the attacks happened 10 times since August.
But in a reply to a records request from the WSAV Investigative Unit asking for dispatch records for every home on the street for the last year, Glynn County only showed us two calls.
One was a 911 hangup, and the other was someone reporting third-party details, days after Lehrkamp showed up at the hospital.
The Justice for Trent rally is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Neptune Park, near the St Simons Island pier.
Brooks, who is talking with Lehrkamp’s family, says the teen continues to improve physically but mentally has a lot of pain to overcome.