Police: Man kills wife, grandson and himself

By LARRY HARTSTEIN and MARCUS K. GARNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Following an anniversary party that ended in a murder-suicide tragedy, East Point police know the victims. They know the shooter. But what they don’t know is why 87-year-old George Doby killed his wife and grandson Sunday.

“We still don’t have that question answered,” said East Point Police Det. Cliff Chandler. “I’ve worked plenty of murders, but nothing like this.”

Police say Doby shot his grandson, 12-year-old Jacob Doby, and then his 82-year-old wife, Moiselle “Edna” Doby before turning the large caliber gun on himself in the backyard of his Stone Road home.

The family had gathered that day to celebrate the couple’s 57th wedding anniversary.

The couple’s daughter and other relatives were inside when they heard gunshots shortly before 2:30 p.m. and found the people outside, East Point police Det. Cliff Chandler said.

“I just heard explosions,” said the couple’s next-door neighbor, Margaret Bowman. “There were two ... then two more ... and another.”

The boy and his grandmother had multiple gunshot wounds, and the woman’s husband had a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, Chandler said.

Autopsies are being conducted Monday, authorities said.

“[The family] was devastated,” Chandler said. “They didn’t see it coming.”

Bowman, who’s known the couple for 44 years, said the man was losing his eye sight and was struggling to take care of his wife who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

“I think he feared he was not going to be able to keep taking care of her,” Bowman said. “He was overwhelmed.”

This is the second Atlanta-area murder-suicide involving longtime married couples in their 80s in less than two weeks. On July 15, 86-year-old Edward Travis shot 85-year-old Anne Travis, his wife of 60 years, in Avondale Estates.

East Point Police don’t have a motive in Sunday’s killing.

Police confirmed that Moiselle Doby suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and said the grandson was autistic.

“Right now we don’t have any reason as to why this shooting took place,” said Chandler. “We’re perplexed. The family’s perplexed.”

-- Staff writer Katie Leslie contributed to this report.