Local man arrested on aggravated assault charges

Published 7:27 am Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Travion Antwan Butts is behind bars in Putnam County after being sought for the past several months by local, state and federal authorities in connection with multiple counts of aggravated assault.

The crimes and others to which Butts has been charged with stem from an Oct. 27, 2024, shootout in the parking of the Waffle House in Eatonton.

Butts is the last of five suspects to be arrested and charged in the case by Eatonton police.

The youngest suspect was 16. Police said he lived in Greene County.

The juvenile is being held at a state youth development center, while the other suspects remain jailed in Putnam County.

No one was injured in the shootout at the Waffle House in Eatonton but at least two vehicles and a nearby restaurant were damaged.

Milledgeville Police Department Maj. Brandon Sellers, commander of the criminal investigation division, told The Union-Recorder that Butts was taken into custody March 10 by road patrol officers along with detectives and deputies with the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force out of Macon.

Butts is described by police as a local gang member.

“We went to an address on the 2400 block of Grandview Drive in Milledgeville,” Sellers said. “A woman came to the door fairly quickly, who I believe is the suspect’s mother. She later got him to come to the door, and that’s when he was arrested.”

Sellers said the arrest was made without incident.

After Butts’ arrest, Sellers said police drove the suspect to the Baldwin-Putnam County line where he was turned over to Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell. Butts was taken to the Putnam County Jail in Eatonton.

“There was some information brought forward to us during the arrest and inside the home that he (Butts) may have been in the possession of a firearm immediately before he came out to meet law enforcement officers,” Sellers said. “So, based on that information, we obtained a search warrant for the residence. As a result of the search warrant, we did, indeed, find a loaded handgun with a magazine.”

Sellers said the gun was stolen from a victim in Macon-Bibb County.

“We’re still trying to determine if that gun was used in any other crimes after it was stolen,” Sellers said.

The CID commander said since the Eatonton Police Department has the more serious criminal charges against Butts Milledgeville police have not yet interviewed him about the stolen gun.

“We’re not going to do anything to disrupt their investigation,” Sellers said.

Butts faces a charge of theft by receiving stolen property in connection with the stolen gun.

“A warrant has been taken out against him on that charge,” Sellers said.