Moultrie shooting spree – latest: McDonald’s manager named as one of three victims killed by employee
Kentavious White is believed to have shot and killed his 50-year-old mother, 74-year-old grandmother and his 41-year-old manager Amia Smith in Moultrie, Georgia
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A McDonald’s manager has been identified as one of the three victims killed by suspected gunman Kentavious White in a shooting spree across three different locations in Moultrie, Georgia, on Thursday.
White, 26, is believed to have shot and killed his 50-year-old mother at her home as well as his 74-year-old grandmother at her home next door in the early hours of the morning.
He then allegedly travelled to the fast food restaurant, where he was an employee, and shot dead his manager 41-year-old Amia Smith.
Surveillance footage, seen by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, captures White arriving at the restaurant and then getting Smith to come to the door. White then allegedly shot Smith before entering the McDonald’s and turning the gun on himself.
The motive behind the incident remains unknown.
A neighbour told The Associated Press that police had been called to the property that White shared with his mother just one day before the shooting spree after the suspect had come outside and fired a gun while shouting.
Victim identified in Atlanta shooting
As police continue to investigate today’s shooting in Moultrie, Georgia, more information is emerging about another recent shooting in the state.
Family members have confirmed that Amy St Pierre, a CDC worker, was fatally shot on Wednesday in mass shooting at an Atlanta medical facility.
Ms St Pierre’s family offered the following statement to The Independent.
“Our beloved Amy was brilliant, kind, big-hearted and simply the ‘best of the best’. An Emory honors graduate and Georgia State MBA, Amy traveled the world with curiosity and courage. She was driven by compassion, both in her work in the field of maternal mortality, and in her everyday life. Amy was selfless always, she wanted more for others but never for herself. Generous supporter of worthy causes, she was the social conscience of our family.”
“Loving wife and mother of two, middle sister to two brothers, and cherished daughter, she was truly our pride and joy. Amy’s friends are the best reflection of the person she was. Their outpouring of tears, love and support are beyond measure.”
“She will be missed but never, ever forgotten.”
They have asked for privacy and said they will not be making further comment.
For more information about Wednesday’s tragedy, follow the latest at our liveblog about the Atlanta shooting.
How Georgia became the center of the public safety debate
Even before a pair of shootings shock Georgia this week, the state was at the center of the conversation around policing and gun violence, thanks to a controversial $90m police training facility proposal dubbed “Cop City” by critics.
Here’s our full report on the debate.
The fight against Atlanta’s $90m ‘Cop City’ is just getting started
The next frontline in the US movement to reform police is a forest in Atlanta, Josh Marcus reports
Police were previously aware of Moultrie shooter
Thursday’s shooting in Moultrie, Georgia, wasn’t the first time police encoutered the gunman, the Associated Press reports.
Jerry Goodwin, who lived nextdoor to the alleged shooter, said police previously were sent to the man’s home a day earlier when he came outside, shouted something, and fired a gun.
“I had never seen him hurt anybody or try to hurt anybody before this,” Mr Goodwin said.
Georgia has among highest gun violence death rate in country
Sadly gun violence in Georgia is nothing new.
The state is among the deadliest for gun violence in the country, according to data.
Georgia ranks 14th in gun violence mortality, according to the CDC, with a death rate of 20.3 deaths per 10,000 people.
Photo shows police investigating Moultrie shooting
Police are still investigating a shooting that took place Thursday in Moultrie, Georgia, leaving four people including the gunman dead.
The shooting took place across three locations: two adjoining houses, and a McDonald’s where both the gunman and the final victim reportedly worked.
Police could be seen throughout Thursday blocking off traffic near the scene.
ICYMI: Georgia shooting: Multiple people dead after gunman opens fire at McDonald’s and homes in Moultrie
A gunman killed a female McDonald’s worker and two relatives before taking his own life in a rural Georgia town.
The shooter, who has not been named, killed his 50-year-old mother and 74-year-old grandmother at two neighbouring homes in the small town of Moultrie, south of Atlanta, Colquitt County Coroner C Verlyn Brock told The Associated Press.
The 26-year-old gunman also killed a 41-year-old McDonald’s manager then killed himself, according to the coroner.
Moultrie police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents are reportedly probing the fatal incidents at the fast food restaurant in the town of 15,000 residents as well as at a crime scene on Sixth Street Southwest.
Graeme Massie has the full story.
Multiple people dead after gunman opens fire at McDonald’s and homes in Moultrie
Shooter kills his mother, grandmother and a McDonald’s worker in rural town south of Atlanta
Red America’s deep, quiet struggle with gun violence
You would think, hearing many prominent Republicans discuss America’s gun violence epidemic, that most shootings only occur in large cities in Democratic states like Los Angeles and New York, proving that gun laws make no difference, or that Black Lives Matter protests had somehow led to an end of effective policing.
According to experts, however, thinking about gun violence like this misses huge parts of the picture. It’s an epidemic that touches rural communities just as much as urban ones, with disproportionate impacts on racial minorities, and contrary to the popular idea, Republican-led states.
In 2020, for example, Republican, largely rural states with low populations — Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, Alabama, and Alaska — had the six highest per capita rates of gun deaths. These states also had the highest rates of gun ownership for the same period. In Mississippi, about half of adults live in a household with a gun.
Read our full investigation into the geography of gun violence in American.
GOP says gun violence mostly happens in Democratic cities – the figures disagree
Conservatives like to paint Democratic states as crime-ridden warzones, but gun violence is worse in red states, Josh Marcus writes
McDonald’s worker among 4 dead in south Georgia
One of the victims in the shooting in rural south Georgia yesterday has been identified as a McDonald's worker.
The 26-year-old gunman opened fire at his family members, including his 50-year-old mother and 74-year-old grandmother at a McDonald's outlet in Moultrie, Georgia.
Apart from the two women, a third woman was also shot, who is identified as 41-year-old Amia Smith, who worked as the manager of the outlet.
All three women appeared to have been shot multiple times, according to the coroner.
Police have identified Georgia shooter
The shooter who opened fire at Moultrie has been identified as 26-year-old Kentavious White by authorities.
Earlier, his identity was withheld from the public as the police was in the process of informing family members of the deceased.
White shot himself yesterday after stepping inside a McDonald's and shooting the outlet manager. He earlier killed two women, his mother and grandmother.
A motive for the shootings is unclear at this time.
'Never seen him hurt anybody', neighbours describe Georgia shooter
A neighbour of Moultrie shooter Kentavious White has expressed shock and surprise at the 26-year-old's behaviour, adding that he had no prior incident of hurting anyone.
Jerry Goodwin, a man who lived next door to the gunman and his mother and two doors down from the grandmother, told the Associated Press that his wife heard shots fired before 1am on Thursday while he was asleep.
Mr 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.
However, it appears police did not respond immediately on Thursday.
Mr Goodwin said police and an ambulance arrived just before 6am, with the ambulance immediately taking one person away. He said the coroner later retrieved two more bodies.
He said he didn't know his neighbours well, although the 26-year-old had come to his house after moving in several years ago to seek advice on installing a fence.
"I had never seen him hurt anybody or try to hurt anybody before this," Mr Goodwin said.
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