A man was killed and a woman was flown to a hospital in critical condition after a man opened fire in a Paulding County neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
A third person was shot, but details on that person’s condition were not immediately available. The gunman was later found dead in his backyard, Paulding County spokesman Deputy Donny Pace said.
Motorists were diverted away from the community close to Highway 92 near Hiram shortly before 5:30 p.m. and Bennett to Williams Lake roads were closed for several hours.
Witnesses described to Channel 2 Action News an “unstable man” who was later identified as William Arnett of 55 Pine Valley Drive, Pace said.
Arnett was known to local law enforcement even before he opened fire in the Pine Valley Road neighborhood shortly before 5 p.m.
“He was known to make threats to law enforcement,” Pace said.
After police evacuated the neighborhood, people gathered at Fire Station 9. Some bowed their heads in prayer, while others anxiously contemplated the scene around them for more than four hours as the SWAT team tried to arrest Arnett.
Neighbors huddled in prayer as a firehouse and gas station were used to gather witnesses.
Arnett shot at and killed one of his two 65-year-old neighbors, who lived at 65 Pine Valley Drive, Pace said.
“He could have fired from his backyard into theirs,” Pace said.
Pastor Rodney Carson, of Hiram’s Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, comforted friends when they heard the man died, Channel 2 reported. His name and the name of the two injured people were not released.
SWAT team members threw tear gas and eventually found Arnett dead in his backyard of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Pace said.
Near his body, authorities found a handgun and an AR-15, Pace said.
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