The man killed in an early Friday shooting at a Flemington hotel has been identified as Markese Mahone, 25, of Macon, according to the incident report filed by Liberty County Deputy Dustin Rushing.

Rushing’s report says he was dispatched to the Days Inn just outside Hinesville on a report of shots fired shortly after midnight. When he arrived, he saw Mahone lying outside rooms 317/318 in a pool of blood. Rushing said Mahone was lying face down and was unresponsive.

Liberty County Coroner Reginald Pierce confirmed Mahone had sustained a gunshot wound.

Liberty County Sheriff Steve Sikes said two persons of interest are being questioned in connection with Mahone's death. Sikes said the individuals had not been charged in the case, but that they had knowledge useful to the investigation.

In a press conference Friday afternoon, Sikes said Mahone, whose body was autopsied at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Savannah, was shot once near his neck area.  The sheriff said Mahone was not staying at the motel and is believed to have been visiting at the time of the shooting.

According to WMAZ in Macon, Mahone rapped under the stage name Pain City and was a member of the Yoppa Boy Committee and a former member of Smoked Out Entertainment.

Earlier story

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting death of a man at the Days Inn of Hinesville, which is actually in Flemington.

The shooting occurred around midnight. Witnesses told officers they heard a gunshot. The man, who has not been identified, was found lying outside rooms 317/318 in a pool of blood.

It is not known if he was staying at the hotel.