Relatives say Jajuan Taylor, 33, was seeking mental health care before killing his girlfriend Briuna Hartry, 31, their unborn child and himself on Friday.
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Relatives of a Milledgeville man who police say fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend before taking his own life say he spent weeks asking for help with his mental health — and was failed by the very systems meant to protect him.
Police say 33-year-old Jajuan Taylor shot and killed Briuna Hartry, 31, and their unborn baby inside a home on the 100 block of North Richmond Street sometime between midnight and 8 a.m. Friday. Hartry was about 33 weeks pregnant. Investigators say Taylor then turned the gun on himself.
Officers were called to the home around 10:15 a.m. June 19 and found two people dead inside the residence, Milledgeville police said in an initial release. Hartry’s unborn child also did not survive.
The bodies have been sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Macon for autopsies. The case remains an active investigation.
‘Never would I have thought he would hurt her’
In a Monday interview with 13WMAZ, Taylor’s aunt, Jane Curry-Ubanwa, described her nephew as gentle and nurturing — someone she says adored children and animals.
“Never would I thought he would hurt her, because he wasn’t like that,” Curry-Ubanwa said. “He wouldn’t. He coddled children, he coddled pets. He wasn’t hurtful, and I’m not trying to make him a saint, I’m just telling you the way he was.”
Curry-Ubanwa said Hartry, who was eight months pregnant, had been trying to hold everything together as Taylor’s behavior became increasingly erratic.
She recalled warning Hartry to put her own health and the baby first.
“I started telling her to see about herself, see about the baby,” she said. “But she told me, ‘Auntie, I can’t.’ She said, ‘I don’t want him to think he’s alone.’”
The family says Hartry was “fighting this battle by herself,” trying to navigate hospitals, police and mental health resources while also preparing to give birth.
“She should have never been put in that position, never,” Curry-Ubanwa said.
Signs of a mental health crisis
Relatives say Taylor had begun using drugs someone gave him, supposedly to calm him down, but that his mental state spiraled instead. They describe paranoia, irrational accusations and conversations that didn’t make sense in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Just two days before the shooting, Taylor posted a prayer on Facebook, writing in part: “Lord please take the pain and anger away that’s inside those that are hurting, for they might be too prideful to call on you themselves.”
The next day, family members also say he drove himself to an Atlanta hospital. Taylor appeared in a Facebook Live video inside a hospital room during what they describe as a mental health crisis shared to his Facebook Thursday afternoon.
In that video, Taylor is seen wandering into another patient’s hospital room, telling healthcare staff he was “looking for his Mama.”
Curry-Ubanwa recalls Taylor also calling her from a new number saying, “I need somebody that cares about me around me. I don’t know how much stronger I can be by myself.”
His aunt, Josie Felecia Taylor, said the timeline after that is still unclear to the family. They say he was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, released from jail, and later returned to Milledgeville with Hartry Thursday night.
“We lost Juan, we lost her, Bri. Yes, we lost unborn baby Haven Jabria… He went to the police, he went to the hospital, and they failed him,” she said. “Somewhere, somebody failed.”
Both aunts say they are speaking out in hopes of preventing another tragedy.
“I don’t want another what I call a failure in the system to cause another family to have to go through this,” Curry-Ubanwa said. “They shouldn’t have had to go through this.”
Milledgeville police say the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lt. Phillip Vinson at 478-414-4090.
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