Man sought for questioning after 2 men fatally shot in Sandersville

Published 3:32 pm Monday, July 28, 2025

SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — For the second time in less than a month, local and state law enforcement authorities in Sandersville and Washington County are investigating a shooting.

The latest shootings left two men dead. Authorities say they were both homicide victims.

Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran released additional information Monday about the double-homicide case.

Cochran said Damian Kennon “Knowledge” Reaves has been identified as the man wanted in connection with the case.

The sheriff said the 36-year-old Reaves, who is from Sandersville, should be considered armed and dangerous.

“We have been actively working alongside with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Sandersville Police Department from the beginning of this investigation,” Cochran said.

The sheriff said authorities are seeking information about the shootings and Reaves’ possible whereabouts.

The shootings happened shortly before midnight July 27, at Washington Manor Apartments at 700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, according to Sandersville Police Chief Victor K. Cuyler.

Sandersville Police officers and Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived on the scene, and they discovered that two men had been wounded.

One of the men was pronounced deceased at the scene. The second man was treated at the scene by firefighters/first responders and personnel with the ambulance service in Washington County before being taken to the emergency department of Washington County Regional Medical Center in Sandersville, where he later died.

Authorities identified the victim who died at the scene as 19-year-old Jonathan Carnez Burden. Elijah Alphonso Graham, 22, died at the local hospital.

Local authorities have called for special agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Office in Eastman to assist them in the ongoing investigation of the fatal shootings.

The latest shootings come on the heels of a shooting that happened June 7 at Sunrise Apartments in Sandersville. That shooting led to the arrests of two suspects.

Anyone with information concerning the most recent shootings should call the Sandersville Police Department at 478-552-3121; the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 478-552-4795 or 478-552-0911; or the GBI Office in Eastman at 478-374-6988 or the GBI Tip Line at 800-597-8477.