Moultrie community looking for answers in wake of shootings

May 8—MOULTRIE — In the days following the fatal shooting of three people by a gunman who turned the gun on himself, the Moultrie community is trying to make sense of the tragedy and rallying around those who have been devastated.

The McDonald's restaurant where the final two deaths took place was re-opened on Friday, a day after Kentavious White shot himself after fatally shooting Amia Smith, 41, multiple times. White, 26, was an employee at the restaurant and Smith was an assistant manager.

"The employees wanted to work ... just to keep going," said the Rev. John Eubanks. "People are going by McDonald's to let them know we love them. When I went, in one lady came from behind the counter; I hugged her and she hugged me.

"Something like this traumatizes the community. It traumatizes the employees."

Prior to the two deaths at the McDonald's, Susie Mae Arnold, 50, White's mother, and his 74-year-old grandmother, Hilda Marshall, were shot multiple times by White at their adjacent homes in the 1100 block of Sixth Street Southwest.

The tragedy touched Friendship Alliance Church, where Eubanks is pastor of community outreach. One of the cleaning crew there is Smith's brother.

The Mission-Moultrie Pastor's Alliance, of which Friendship Alliance is a member, organized a "Healing Night of Prayer" event on Saturday.

"We're just praying for the spirit of forgiveness to flow in this community," Eubanks said. "We're just praying for God's love and mercy to be poured out into everybody who's involved. Pastors are here to talk with people and pray with people."

Rumors are swirling in the community, the minister said, but he believes that the gunman's actions were fueled by anger.

"They need to be able to deal with their anger and their rage," Eubanks said. "A lot of times they want to turn it on themselves or turn it on other people."

White had no criminal record in Colquitt County and had not previously been on the radar of local law enforcement.

On Thursday, the gunman's last post on Facebook was about being molested by a male family member and another individual, said Colquitt County Administrator Chas Cannon, who said someone forwarded him the post from the social media site. The relative responded to the post denying the allegations.

White's post had been removed by Friday.

Two photos that remained showed White holding a revolver, and a video of him pointing the firearm at the camera and imitating the action of pulling the trigger three times. Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock said he thinks most or all of the bullets were fired from a rifle.

In one Feb. 26, 2021 post, White stated: "My soul tired ... I just wanna give up but I got so much (expletive) planned for the future sometimes I just wanna gone 'head home."

On Nov. 15, 2021, he wrote: "If your own family don't wanna see you achieve ... then put'em wit' the enemies & bypass the negative (expletive)."

As is the case for law enforcement agencies across the country, the Colquitt County Sheriff's Office and Moultrie Police Department are short-staffed, Cannon said, but that was not a factor in Thursday's shootings.

"That guy was dead-set on what he did," Cannon said. "I don't know how he acquired the firearm. I don't know what his motive was. I don't know how you solve it. It's very unfortunate for the community and for that family.

"I hate it for the family; I hate it for the community, and I hate it for the officers having to deal with it. It's not easy for the officers."

Referring to the recent spate of shootings around the nation, retired Moultrie Observer newspaper editor and publisher Dwain Walden said he had told a group of friends a few days ago that the violence would not bypass the county.

"I told them it's just a matter of time before it happens again here," he said. "It's sad, really sad."

In 2004 Colquitt County was the scene of the mass murder of a family of five, including a 3-year-old boy, and the family's housekeeper.

In May 2015 the bodies of five people, ages 20 to 22, were found in a burning residence a short distance from Moultrie. All had been shot, and a former roommate who was one of the first to call to report the fire, was convicted of killing them.

"This is not new to us," Walden said. "It's unreal. It happens in big towns and medium-sized towns and little towns. No community is immune to it."

Without an effort to reach out to young people and provide mental health services, such tragedies will continue, said the Rev. Cornelius Ponder.

"I knew him and the family," Ponder said. "I've been knowing them for a long time. They were beautiful people, and you definitely would not have thought this would have come about.

"Miss Hilda was very sweet. Susie was a good person. They definitely did not deserve this. It's just a tragedy. The community is kind of shocked to see that it has come so close, in a little small community like this. This is something like you see on TV."

In one of his Facebook posts, White referenced missing the presence of his father, and in others he said that he thought his father would have been proud of some of his accomplishments.

The lack of fathers, of males in their lives, is another issue facing young people, said Ponder, pastor at The REAL Church in Moultrie.

"We're going to have to get to work on saving this next generation," he said. "I definitely believe we're going to have to do some mental health intervention, get a grip on the mental health of the youth. This generation ... fathers not there, fathers in jail, it's just coming to a head. All kids need both parents, not just mothers. This is a multigenerational issue. It's not just a black or a white issue."