A man suspected of killing five people in a pair of shootings Friday night in Georgia later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
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The incidents occurred in Appling, where authorities first discovered two women and a man fatally shot at one address, said Capt. Andy Shedd of Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities determined the shootings were related, based on witness accounts.Their investigation led them to Hawes, Shedd said.
Columbia County dispatch confirmed that two people are dead at a shooting on Johnson Drive.
Less than an hour later, police received a call about another shooting, this time at a Washington Road residence.
According to authorities, Hawes’ wife was not among the victims.
Lauren Hawes confirms the bloodshed was connected to a domestic dispute between her parents. She said Roosevelt Burns was her grandmother’s brother. That’s when they found Hawes’ body. Authorities tracked him down at his home, where authorities said they found him with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police did not immediately release a motive in the killings, but Hawes’ daughter told the Associated Press on Saturday her father was a “ticking time bomb” after her mother ended their relationship.
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“We’re now finding out that there were some issues between him and his estranged wife”, said Captain Andy Shedd. Shedd said the Friday night shootings stem from a domestic dispute that left three men and two women dead. Lauren Hawes did not say which of the victims was her grandmother or her cousin. Victims at the second location have been identified as “Lizzy Williams, 59, and Shelly Williams, 62”.
