UPDATE: GBI identifies suspected shooter
May 4—MOULTRIE, Ga. — Investigators said late Thursday the rural Georgia man who shot and killed three people and then turned the gun on himself is believed to be Kentavious White, a 26-year-old Moultrie, Georgia man.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, in a prepared statement, when police arrived at the scene where the shooter's mother and grandmother had been shot, one of the women was still alive. She was taken to a local hospital where she later died.
After the gunman shot and killed his 50-year-old mother and 74-year-old grandmother he went to the local McDonald's restaurant where he shot the 41-year-old assistant manager to death before killing himself, authorities said.
GBI spokesman Nelly Miles said in the statement, "After reviewing the surveillance footage, agents saw that White arrived at the restaurant, got his manager, Amia Smith, to come to the door. White shot Smith, killing her. White is then seen entering the restaurant where he takes his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot."
Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock told The Moultrie Observer the gunman shot his mother and grandmother in their own homes, located next door to each other in the small South Georgia town.
Brock said he didn't know what the connection was between the shooter and the McDonald's employee.
The coroner said he was in Macon — about two hours away — when got the call regarding the shooting at about 9 a.m. He then returned to Moultrie to pronounce the victims dead at 11:05 a.m.
Brock said he believes the shootings happened earlier Thursday morning.
The Moultrie Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating the fatal shooting incidents.
Investigators released very little information Thursday morning saying that the next of kin had not been fully notified and that the crime scenes were still being processed.
Shortly after the shootings, GBI Special Agent Jamy Steinberg, said, "We are investigating multiple incidents and there are fatalities involved" in an emailed statement to the Moultrie Observer, but declined to provide additional details.
The GBI said it will be performing autopsies.
Moultrie Chief of Police Sean Ladson said, shortly after the shooting, there was no immediate threat to the public.
Georgia Pines, the state-contracted mental health provider for the region, and the Moultrie Police Department Co-Responder Team are offering support services to residents.
"Due to the situations that have happened recently as well as concerns of overall mental health, we want to remind community members that Georgia Pines is available to provide services for them," Julio Ginel, a Georgia Pines clinical co-responder, said Thursday by phone.
The Associated Press reported that a person who lived next door to the gunman and his mother, two doors down from the grandmother, told AP his wife heard shots fired before 1 a.m. Thursday, while he was asleep. The man also said the police responded to a separate complaint earlier in the week when a gun was fired in the neighboring yard.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
Jeff Amy of the Associated Press contributed to this article.
