Herbert Perkinson Jr. watched the news Sunday morning, and saw the report about a man found shot and dying on I-75 at the Cobb-Cherokee county line.
“Whoever done that ought to be ashamed,” he thought.
Then he went to his Bartow County church — and saw the crime tape outside his son’s nearby trailer. He made in the connection in his mind even before authorities confirmed his son, his namesake, was the man they believe was kidnapped during a home invasion and then dumped on the interstate some 15 miles away.
Herbert Perkinson III was 49 years old.
“He wasn’t no bad kid, I can tell you that,” his father said Monday. “He was a good person. He’d help anybody.”
Authorities believe armed suspects took Perkinson III from his home on 11th Street in Emerson around 9 a.m. Sunday. A passing motorist saw him lying on I-75 about an hour later and called 911.
Shot once, he died at WellStar Kennestone Hospital. Authorities are not sure where the shooting took place and, as of late Sunday, no arrests had been made.
A spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is working the case along with Emerson police and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday.
Perkinson III had a 5-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, his father said. He raised dogs, worked on cars and loved to joke around, but kept mostly to himself.
He lived in Emerson all his life.
“I would like to know [who would hurt him],” Perkinson Jr. said. “That’s something I can’t answer.”
