A 21-year-old Georgia man has been charged with three counts of murder in connection with the killings of an elderly couple and their grandson inside their family business.
Jacob Muse was arrested late Friday in connection with the shooting deaths of Evelyn and Tommy Hawk, both 75, and their 18-year-old grandson, Luke, whose bodies were found April 8 inside the Lock, Stock & Barrel shooting range and gun store in a small Georgia town outside Atlanta.
Muse, of College Park, was charged with three counts of malice murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. He is being held without bail at the Coweta County Jail, authorities said. No further information was released about the arrest.
The gun range had been operated by the Hawks for more than 30 years and the family was well-known and well-liked in Grantville, a rural enclave about 50 miles southwest of Atlanta.
“Even though he’s in jail and with warrants signed for murder, there’s a lot more to work,” Grantville police Chief Steve Whitlock told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The gruesome discovery was made by Coweta County Coroner Richard Hawk, the couple’s son and the father of Luke, police said. Richard had gone to his parent’s business on the night of April 8 after they failed to return home at their normal time.
Last week, authorities released heartbreaking audio of Richard’s call to 911 on that night, when the distraught man told the dispatcher his family’s business was locked up tight and he couldn’t get in. But he could see his prone son on the floor, bleeding.
“The door is closed, the door is locked, everything is locked up. I see blood coming from my son’s — I see blood coming from my son. I can’t tell if anyone is dead or alive or what, but he’s not moving, he doesn’t look like he’s breathing,” he told the emergency operator.
“I think somebody has robbed us and probably shot my family. Oh, my God,” he said. “I can’t even get in the door. Tell somebody to bring some lock cutters with them because I don’t have my keys,” he said.
The dispatcher then asked if he knew who was responsible for the carnage. “No, like I said, I am, I don’t know, the the door’s shut up, everything is shut up, Oh my gosh,” he said.
More than 40 weapons were stolen from the gun range, along with the security camera, authorities said.
“My heart is broken,” wrote Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood, who is a friend of the family.
The tight-knit community was devastated by the killings.
“My heart is broken,” Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood, who is a friend of the family, posted to Facebook after the bodies were found.
“Now is the time that our Coweta family needs to direct our thoughts and prayers to Richard and his family. Theresa, my family, Sheriff’s Office members and I hurting for you and your family and we will be beside you always,” he said.
At a Thursday memorial service for the victims, Richard Hawk told those attending, “Pray for us. At the same time, pray for whoever did this, that law enforcement, when they find them, if they’re not in a firefight and they don’t kill them, that God will give me and my pastor an opportunity to go and preach to them and tell them who God is. They obviously don’t know.”