Antwane Thurmond was arrested at an Augusta motel after authorities said Tia Keith was shot outside and inside a convenience store.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia man accused of fatally shooting his former live-in girlfriend at a Hall County convenience store was captured at an Augusta motel after a weeklong search and is now being held in the Hall County Jail as the homicide case moves forward.

Antwane Sintell Thurmond, 45, was arrested July 23 at a Motel 6 on Wrightsboro Road in Augusta, about a week after 44-year-old Tia Vidon Keith was killed at the Subhanallah Food Mart near Gainesville. Authorities initially announced charges of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault under the Family Violence Act. Hall County jail records reported by local media later showed additional allegations including criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The charges are accusations, and Thurmond has not been convicted in Keith’s death.

The arrest marked a sharp change from the first days after the July 16 shooting, when investigators warned that Thurmond was at large and should be considered armed and dangerous. Hall County authorities said Keith arrived at the convenience store around 9:30 p.m., went inside to make a purchase and then returned to her vehicle. Investigators said Thurmond, whom they described as her former live-in boyfriend, was already sitting in the passenger seat. Deputies allege that he shot Keith multiple times while the two were inside the vehicle. No motive for the attack has been publicly established in the reports reviewed.

Keith managed to get out of the vehicle and make her way back into the store, according to investigators. Authorities say Thurmond followed her inside and shot her again. Surveillance footage reviewed by the store owner and described in local reporting showed Keith trying to reach a bathroom before she fell. A clerk called 911 while another customer was also inside the business. Neither the clerk nor the customer was reported injured. Keith died at the store. The public accounts do not disclose a complete medical examiner’s report or specify which wounds caused her death.

Thurmond left before deputies arrived, beginning a search that expanded beyond Hall County. Investigators recovered the vehicle authorities believed he used after leaving the store and executed a search warrant at a Metro Atlanta residence linked to him. Officials said evidence was recovered during that search but did not publicly provide a complete inventory. By July 22, the FBI was assisting Hall County authorities, joining a search that also involved the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision and law enforcement agencies in Richmond County. Authorities said investigators were following leads about Thurmond’s movements rather than treating the case as a random shooting.

The search ended at about 4:10 p.m. July 23 in Augusta. Hall County officials said Thurmond was alone in a motel room when special teams with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office approached and took him into custody without incident. Hall County investigators were already in Augusta at the time. Thurmond was initially held there before being transported back to Gainesville, where local jail records showed he was booked late that night. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that he was being held without bond shortly after his return to Hall County.

The added jail charges broadened the case beyond the three counts announced during the manhunt. Local reporting citing Hall County Jail records listed felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault under the Family Violence Act, criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A Superior Court arrest order was also reflected in the records. The available reports do not explain what conduct forms the basis of the criminal-damage count or provide the charging documents setting out the factual basis for each firearm allegation.

The Family Violence Act designation reflects the relationship investigators say existed between Keith and Thurmond. Authorities repeatedly described them as former live-in partners. That history is relevant to how the aggravated-assault allegation is classified, but the sources reviewed do not provide a public timeline of their relationship, explain when they separated or identify any earlier reports involving the couple. Investigators also have not publicly announced a motive. Those gaps matter because the criminal charges describe what authorities allege happened, while questions about why it happened and what preceded the encounter remain separate issues for the investigation and court process.

As the search for Thurmond unfolded, Keith’s relatives and friends began describing the woman they had lost. Family members said she built a career as a hairstylist after moving to the Gainesville area and had worked toward owning her own salon. Her cousin Charlotte Sosebee told WSB-TV that Keith wanted to succeed and make her family proud. Keith’s father, Victor Keith, described his daughter as the center of his life. Friends remembered a woman who cared about her appearance, was generous to others and developed close relationships with clients through her work.

Keith’s funeral-home obituary confirms that she was born Aug. 28, 1981, in Gainesville and died July 16 at age 44. It says she spent part of her youth in Crossett, Arkansas. Her death drew a public outpouring from relatives, friends and customers who knew her through her salon work. At a memorial gathering later in July, relatives emphasized her ambitions and personality rather than the circumstances of her death. Her funeral was scheduled at St. John Baptist Church after friends and family gathered at Wimberly Funeral Home to remember her.

The case also illustrates how quickly the public status of a homicide investigation can change. When Thurmond was first identified on July 19, authorities released a detailed physical description because they believed he was moving around to avoid capture. They noted his tattoos, prosthetic lower left leg and slight limp while urging people not to approach him. Once he was arrested four days later, those warnings were no longer the central issue. The focus shifted from locating a wanted man to establishing the evidence supporting the charges and moving the allegations through the Hall County court system.

Several important parts of that process remain outside the public reporting reviewed. No published account located for this article identifies a plea entered by Thurmond in the homicide case, lays out a trial date or provides a defense response to the allegations. The complete surveillance recording has not been reproduced in the reports reviewed, and investigators have not released a detailed account of the evidence taken from the Metro Atlanta residence. Those matters may become significant if prosecutors present the case to a grand jury or if the charges are later tested at hearings or trial.

For now, Thurmond remains accused of killing Keith and faces the expanded group of charges reflected in Hall County records. His arrest ended the immediate public search that followed the shooting, but it did not resolve the criminal case. Prosecutors must still establish the charged offenses through the court process, while Keith’s family continues to mourn a woman relatives said had built her life around family, clients and the salon career she worked to create.

Author note: Last updated August 24, 2026.