Columbus Teen Charged with Girlfriend's Murder

A Columbus teen is charged in the shooting death of his girlfriend. From the Ledger-Enquirer:

Kayla [Castro], a 16-year-old Hardaway High School sophomore, the victim of a shotgun blast to the chest, was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. Saturday at 4944 Wellborn Drive, where police said the shooting happened in a bedroom about 9 p.m.

Kayla’s boyfriend, Benjamin Brantley, 18, was charged with her murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Police say Brantley told them the shooting was an accident.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Castro family.

Murder/Suicide in Tift County

WCTV reports:

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued a press release detailing their investigation on what they say is a murder suicide. They say that evidence indicates that Darrell Ward shot and killed James and Shirley Peters in their home late Sunday night.

He also shot his ex-wife, Kayla Peters, but she survived. Ward then shot himself in the chest. Relatives of the Peters' family say that Kayla divorced Ward two weeks ago.

"The cops they had the road blocked off from Mitchell Store down to 319, on both ends. They wouldn't let anybody down, wouldn't tell anyone anything, it wasn't until a couple hours afterwards that we found out what happened," said one of the Peters' neighbors, only wanting to be identified as Heather.

Relatives said that Kayla's condition was improving, and that they had informed her on Tuesday afternoon that her parents had been killed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Peters family.

Warner Robbins Man Accused of Killing Girlfriend

From The Macon Telegraph:

Russell Daniel Holt, 28, of Warner Robins, has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the 2:27 a.m. Sunday shooting of his girlfriend inside his residence in the 100 block of Ledford Way, said Tabitha Pugh, Warner Robins police spokeswoman.

His girlfriend, 27-year-old Jessica Nicole Wolfe of Bonaire, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, an autopsy found Monday. The manner of death was ruled a homicide, Pugh said. No other physical trauma was noted in the autopsy, Pugh said.

Wolfe was pronounced dead at the scene of the domestic violence incident, Pugh said. Police were initially dispatched to the residence in reference to a woman not breathing, Pugh said.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Wolfe family.

DeKalb Man Accused of Killing Ex

The AJC reports:

A man who fatally shot his ex-wife and injured another woman Wednesday morning in DeKalb County was arrested that afternoon when he showed up at a school in Duluth to pick up his son, authorities said.

Jason Bryant, 26, was arrested around 3:15 p.m. at Monarch School, a public school for Gwinnett County special needs children, nearly four hours after allegedly shooting the two women multiple times, police said. Charges against the man were pending Wednesday afternoon.

Angelina Bryant, 23, was killed outside the Windchase apartment complex in the Pine Lake area, and Trina Nwoke, 20, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition, DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.

"He was arrested ... after attempting to pick up his son from school," Parish said. "DKPD notified Gwinnett and school authorities shortly after the shooting about the possibility that he would be headed in their direction."

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families.

Mass DV-Related Shotting in Norcross

A mass shooting at a Norcross, GA spa is now suspected to be DV-related. From CNN:

The shooting deaths of five people at a suburban Atlanta spa Tuesday night was a murder-suicide triggered by a domestic dispute, police said Wednesday.

A man shot himself to death after killing his two sisters and their husbands at the Su Jung Health Spa in Norcross, Georgia, according to a police statement.

The man had been asked to leave the business earlier in the day, but returned at 8:40 p.m. and began shooting with a semiautomatic pistol, police said.

The names of the dead, all in their early 50s to mid-60s, have not been made public.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.

Police: Man Shot and Killed by Coworker's Ex

Another example of how domestic violence is not just a private, family matter:

Joshua McColley found his former girlfriend cowering in the back of the Pizza Hut and aimed a .38-caliber revolver at her, police said.

She begged him not to hurt her: McColley had already shot her co-worker and left him in a pool of blood behind the store's front counter. He obliged her plea and turned the gun on himself.

In the end, her life was the only one spared.

McColley, 23, fatally shot himself at the south DeKalb County pizza store Saturday morning, and Pizza Hut employee Samuel Wallace died from his injuries Monday, according to DeKalb police.

Wallace, 34, was shot twice following a brief confrontation with McColley and was "unconscious and unresponsive" when emergency responders arrived at the store. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Wallace family.

Alleged DV Murder in Emmanuel County

From My Swainsboro News:

On Sunday, Feb. 12, at approximately 8 p.m., the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Office and Emanuel County Emergency Medical Services were dispatched to 40 Ebenezer Church Road in Emanuel County in reference to a female suffering from gunshot wounds.

According to Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens, deputies arrived and arrested George Walter Kirkland, 46, in connection with the shooting. Sherry Kirkland, 49, the wife of George Walter Kirkland, was located within the residence and pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

Investigators from the sheriff’s office and crime scene specialists from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were called in to investigate the death. Sherry Kirkland’s body was transported to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy. George Walter Kirkland is currently charged with murder and remains in the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Detention Center without bond.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to call Investigator Ashley Riner at the sheriff’s office (478) 237-7526 or the GBI at (478) 374-6988.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kirkland family.

Covington Man Wanted for Ex's Murder

From the AJC:

A man wanted in the drive-by slaying of his former girlfriend turned himself in to Covington police Saturday, authorities said.

Hannibal Wayne McMullen, 47, was charged with murder in the death early Friday of Ketitra Techelle Jones, who had filed for a temporary order of protection against the man.

Police said McMullen turned himself in around 5 p.m. Saturday. Police along with family and friends of McMullen had been in touch with him via cell phone and text messaging since late Friday, urging him to surrender.

The fatal shooting occurred on Washington Street near Carroll Street in Covington. Witnesses told police they heard and saw shots being fired from a blue Toyota Corolla and into a silver Dodge Ram truck driven by Jones.

Both vehicles were traveling northeast toward Covington’s town square. After the shooting, Jones’ truck crashed into an awning at the Pure Station on Washington Street near Carroll Street, police said. She was fatally wounded.

McMullen, who owns a detail shop in Covington, was identified as the suspect and was considered armed and dangerous.

Police said Jones and McMullen had been in a relationship that ended several months ago. Channel 2 Action News reported that Jones had sought an order of protection against McMullen.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jones family.

Clayton County Murder-Suicide

From 11 Alive News:

An 11-year-old boy coming home from school walked into a bloody scene where his parents had been killed.

Clayton County Police said the couple died in a murder-suicide. Their bodies were found in their Riverdale home Thursday afternoon.

According to a Clayton County Police officer, Edmond Martin, 33, shot his wife, Fitcha Martin, 31, and then turned the gun on himself.

The child called 911 after finding a large amount of blood inside the house, Clayton County Police spokeswoman Tina Daniel told the Clayton News Daily. She said the boy did not see his parents' bodies.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Martin family.

Attempted Wilcox County Murder-Suicide Leaves Shooter Dead

From NBC 41:

According to Investigator Thomas Stubbs with the Wilcox County Sheriff's Department, a woman was shot twice by her on again off again boyfriend Monday night. Authorities found her conscious in a home on Tippettville Road. Her boyfriend was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to the Medical Center of Central Georgia in stable condition where she is being treated for gunshot wounds to the neck and head.

Stubbs tells 41 NBC the couple had a a tumultous [sic] past. The victim was visiting her boyfriend since Christmas. Authorities are not releasing the name of the victim or shooter.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the woman's family.

Boyfriend Charged in Atlanta Teen's Murder

According to the AJC:

Atlanta police arrested the boyfriend of a teenage girl who was found mortally wounded in southeast Atlanta late Friday and who later died, authorities said Saturday.

The girl was not identified, but the suspect was identified as Edward Johnson, 18, who was charged with murder.

Police said they found the girl with a gunshot wound to her side around 9:15 p.m. in the 2000 block of Rhinehill road. She was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she later died.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's family.

Man Charged in Catoosa County Double-Homicide

From CBS News:

A 59-year-old man told his estranged wife and her mother "they'd be sorry" before he pulled a handgun from his coat pocket and fatally shot both women at a Georgia hospital while people watched in the waiting room, police said.


"He shot the mother-in-law-first and then shot his wife," Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief David Eubanks told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Saturday, a day after the shooting...

The slayings happened at Hutcheson Medical Center in north Georgia, about 10 miles from the Tennessee state line. Police identified the man accused of the shootings as James Benson, a security guard from nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee. Investigators say he drove to the police station and turned himself in shortly afterward.


Police say the suspect had been separated from his wife, 56-year-old Mary Benson of Rossville, Ga., and their marital problems apparently prompted the violence. She was killed alongside her mother, 76-year-old Charlotte Johnson of Chattanooga, as they visited a relative being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Benson and Johnson families.

Murder-Suicide in Augusta

From the Augusta Chronicle:

According to Richmond County sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Carrier, an FPL Foods employee, identified as Emanuel Jordan, 21, fired several shots outside the security gates at the business about 1:15 p.m.

Jordan, who worked at the facility, killed his wife, Tia Jordan, 40, then turned the gun on himself, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen.

...

Jordan has previous Richmond County charges of family violence, simple battery and theft by receiving stolen property from 2008 and a charge of possession of cocaine from 2009, according to law enforcement.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jordan family.

Aragon, GA Man Charged in Wife's Death

According to the Fish Wrap, police say an Aragon, GA man is charged in the shooting death of his wife on September 17, 2011.

...the incident leaving Rita Merritt, 27, of 11 East 2nd St., Apt. A, Aragon, dead and her husband, Shay Merritt, 31, in jail without bond on a felony murder charge.

Police said they at first thought this was a suicide attempt but Shay Merritt confessed that night to the killing, according to Greg Ramey, Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Merritt family.

Clayton County - Possible Murder, Attempted Suicide

From the AJC:

Clayton County police spokesman John Schneller said a woman was dead and a man was taken to the hospital with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The shootings occurred at a house in the 2500 block of Daley Court in Morrow.

Neighbor Harry Toney said police told him the shootings were the result of a domestic dispute.

Toney said a woman, man and three children lived at the house and had lived there since around the first of the year.

Further details were not immediately available.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Georgia Has 6th Highest Rate of Men Killing Women

In it's annual report on men murdering women, the Violence Policy Center found that Georgia ranks the 6th highest in the nation among women killed by men.

The national homicide rate of women killed by men in single-victim, single-offender instances was 1.25 per 100,000, the study said. There were 1,818 such female victims during 2009.

“Violence against women too often escalates to homicide. Prevention of such violence deserves serious and sustained attention from law enforcement officials and policymakers alike,” Kristen Rand, the center’s legislative director, said in a prepared statement.

The center said its study used the most recent data available from the FBI’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report. It is released each year as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

The 10 states with the highest rates of women murdered by men were in descending order Nevada, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota, Hawaii and Missouri, according to the study.

Where weapons use could be determined, firearms were used in slightly more than half the homicides, and more than two-thirds of those firearms were handguns, the study said.

Ninety-three percent of the victims were killed by someone they knew, and 63 percent were wives or intimate acquaintances, the study said.

The full study is available here.

DV Homicide-Suicide in Kirkwood (Atl)

A murder-suicide in Kirkwood, a neighborhood in east Atlanta, leaves three dead.

Atlanta police say the killings of two men and a woman apparently stemmed from a dispute between the woman and her former boyfriend.

Police say the woman, 50-year-old Angela Pearson, was found dead in her home on Thursday along with her son, 24-year-old Darryl Pearson, and the ex-boyfriend, Charlie Woods.

Investigators say all three apparently died of gunshot wounds.

The AJC reports:

Nicole Pearson said her mother had broken up with Woods in June, and he had never been violent or abusive.

In the last few months, though, strange things started happening: A dog disappeared from the house; a family computer printer was sabotaged, and on Wednesday, someone put sugar in the gas tank of Pearson's car, the daughter said.

A family friend, Schquetta Hammond, said Woods was suspected because he had a key to the house. Hammond said she urged Angela Pearson to go to the police, but "she told me, ‘He's harmless,' and she was not going to call the police."

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Pearson family.

Henry County Man Suspect in Girlfriend's Death

From Fox 5 News:

Police in Henry County are seeking a man they believe shot and killed his live-in girlfriend.

Police say 38-year-old Richelle Gates was having an argument with her live-in boyfriend, Fernando Alberto Scott, Tuesday morning when words erupted into gunfire.

Police say Gates’ 18-year-old son was inside the Hampton home on Goldleaf Drive when his mother was shot and killed.

....

Henry County police are looking for 54-year-old Fernando Alberto Scott.

Police believe Scott fled in a gray 2009 Ford Focus with Georgia tag number PD94JQ.

According to police, Scott is to be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Henry County police at 770-288-8250 or 770-957-9121. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Gates family.

Sandy Springs Murder-Suicide

According to the AJC, a Sandy Springs man is suspected of killing his wife and then killing himself.

Irene Mickens arrived at the Sandy Springs apartment Tuesday night to tend to her daughter, who, according to her soon-to-be ex-husband, was seriously ill.

The five-year-old was not sick, it turns out. Jamal Mickens had taken the girl, along with the couple's 7-year-old son, to his sister's home in McDonough earlier that day before returning home to meet his wife.

Sometime between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday, the recent Emory University graduate shot his estranged spouse in the head before turning the gun on himself, Sandy Springs police spokesman Steve Rose said.

"He lured her there," said Donna Penn, a friend of Mickens' who was on the phone with her minutes before she arrived at the Hammond Drive apartment were the couple lived, though not together.

Their bodies were found by police called to scene by Irene Mickens' father, concerned for his daughter's safety. Officers found a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun next to 40-year-old Jamal Mickens' dead body.

There are a couple of interesting things about this story. First, the AJC is determined to sprinkle class markers throughout their article on this homicide-suicide, which took place in a wealthier section of North Fulton County. Jamal Mickens has a Master's Degree from Emory University. There is a photo of the police towing a BMW from the scene. Though we don't know why the AJC felt it necessary to include this information, it does remind us that domestic violence is not an issue limited by class, and that educated people in nice neighborhoods are also vulnerable to violence in the home.

In addition, because WRC offers supervised visitation and exchange services at Nia's Place, we pay particular attention to instances where men take the lives of their former partners during visitation or custody exchanges. Just because a woman has decided to end the relationship with her batterer, that does not mean that she will be safe. In fact, women who have children with their batterer, especially if they were married or if their partner legitimized the children in court, are forever tied to him. Judges are very gung-ho about giving rights to any fathers who want them, whether it is good for the children or not. In fact, men who batter are more likely to have visitation or joint custody, because they are more likely to ask for it since it guarantees their continued access to the child(ren)'s mother.

If you are a woman who is afraid of experiencing violence when meeting your child(ren)'s father to exchange the children, call one of our legal advocates at (404) 370-7670 to get more information on how to request supervised visitation or exchange and what resources are available in your area.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mickens family.

DV SWAT Stand-off in Gwinett

A Gwinett County man committed suicide after a 6-hour SWAT stand-off in Gwinett County.

The incident began with an argument between the man and his wife around midnight, Gwinnett police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said. He said the man threatened to harm himself.

“He told her that he was going to commit suicide. She threatened to leave. He said, ‘No, you’re not going to leave.’ He went and got a long gun,” Ritter told Channel 2’s Amanda Cook.

Ritter said the wife managed to escape with the couple’s teenage daughter and call 911.

When police arrived, they said, the man refused to come out, and they had to take precautions because he’s armed.

“We don't know the power of this gun," Ritter said.

The SWAT team was brought in and neighbors on either side of the house were evacuated. They were speaking to the man over the phone, but he refused to surrender. SWAT officers threw tear gas in the home and sent in a robot. Ritter said authorities would stay at the home as long as necessary.

“We want to make sure that this is going to be a peaceful resolution,” he said.

But, police said, SWAT stormed in after the robot showed the man lying very still. Around 6:30 a.m., they said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Ritter's wife and daughter. We are very thankful that they were able to get out alive.