UPDATE: Moultrie man kills, mother, grandmother and McDonalds worker, coroner says
May 4—MOULTRIE, Ga. — A 26-year-old man in rural Georgia shot and killed his 50-year-old mother and 74-year-old grandmother Thursday then went to the local McDonald's restaurant where he shot the 41-year-old assistant manager to death before killing himself, authorities said.
Officials are withholding the names of victims in this morning's shooting as they seek next of kin, but they have described how the victims were related to the deceased shooter.
The man shot his mother and grandmother to death at neighboring houses in the small South Georgia town Thursday morning, Colquitt County (Ga.) Coroner Verlyn Brock told The Moultrie Observer.
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 (Ga.) — 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 estimated the shootings happened between 7 and 9 a.m. Thursday.
The Moultrie (Georgia) 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 have not been fully notified and that the crime scenes were still be 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.
Moultrie Chief of Police Sean Ladson said 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 Jerry Goodwin who lived next door to the gunman and his mother and two doors down from the grandmother told AP his wife heard shots fired before 1 a.m. Thursday, while he was asleep. Goodwin said the young man who lives next door had come outside and fired a gun one day earlier in the week while shouting something, and that Moultrie police had responded.
Moultrie, a town of about 15,000 residents, is an agricultural community located in South Georgia, 200 miles south of Atlanta.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
