$15,000 bounty for deadly taking pictures of gun vary proprietor and grandchildren in Georgia

“Right now I’m just speechless,” said the police chief.

Apr 10, 2022 3:46 p.m

• 7 minutes read

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A $15,000 bounty is being offered in the search for suspects who killed Georgia shooting range owners and their teenage grandson in an apparent robbery in which at least 40 guns were stolen, authorities said.

The triple homicide occurred at the Lock, Stock and Barrel Shooting Range in Grantville, about 50 miles southwest of Atlanta. The bodies were discovered Friday night by Coweta County Coroner Richard Hawk, the son of the killed shooting range owner and father of the teenager who was gunned down, police said.

“I’ve been here eight years and we’ve never had anything like this,” Grantville Police Chief Steve Whitlock told ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta. “Right now I’m just speechless. It’s hard for me to talk about because they were friends of ours. I know her for a long time.”

Signs are posted on the door of the Lock Stock & Barrel Shooting Gun Range in Coweta County, Georgia on April 8, 2022.

Police identified the victims as Thomas Richard Hawk Sr., 75, his wife Evelyn Hawk, 75, and their 17-year-old grandson, Luke Hawk.

Investigators suspect the killings occurred between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday during an apparent armed robbery, according to a statement from the Grantville Police Department.

Richard Hawk went to the shooting range around 8 p.m. Friday, discovered the bodies and called 911, police said.

In addition to the stolen arsenal of weapons, the company’s security camera was also taken from the scene, police said.

Grantville Police officers asked anyone who drove past the shooting range at the time of the murders to contact investigators and provide any information about what they saw, particularly what type of vehicles were parked outside.

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is supporting the investigation. The Lock, Stock and Barrel Shooting Range is a federal gun licensee in Grantville, officials said.

Emergency services respond at the scene of the fatal shooting at the Lock Stock & Barrel Shooting Range in Grantville, Georgia on April 9, 2022.

The ATF joined the City of Grantville and the Georgia and National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association of the firearms industry, in announcing a combined reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders.

“ATF and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring the killer(s) to justice,” Benjamin Gibbons, the special agent in charge of Atlanta’s ATF field division, said in a statement. “The brutality of these senseless murders combined with the fact that these killers acquired additional firearms makes solving this case our top priority.”

The murders have rocked Grantville, the town of about 3,000 where Thomas and Evelyn Hawk lived for more than 30 years and were well known in the community, according to friends.

“Tommy would do anything for anyone. It’s just a nice family. It was really tough,” Whitlock said, adding that he last spoke to the pair on Tuesday when he visited the shooting range.

Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood said he is also close to the Hawk family and posted a heartfelt letter of condolence on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, saying the Coweta County community was “broken and changed forever.” by the senseless and tragic event that happened in Grantville. “

“Family was taken from the Hawk family and us far too soon and we are left with hurt, pain and very few answers,” Wood wrote. “I am a lifelong member of Coweta and every family, especially the Hawk family, is a precious and precious part of my life. My heart hurts and I pray to our God that he is always present with Richard and I now his family; he bestows peace, strength and overwhelming love from God and our community.”

Wood added, “I also pray fervently that God will use our law enforcement community and the Coweta community to bring about justice quickly.”