Hall County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the shooting deaths of former commission candidate Troy Phillips and his wife Heather Phillips.
The bodies were found Thursday morning in their home on Third Street in the Chicopee Village area of Gainesville, Hall County spokesman Deputy Stephen Wilbanks said.
Troy Phillips was defeated by incumbent Jeff Stowe in a race for the District 4 seat on the Hall County Board of Commissioners in May.
Phillips, a Gainesville resident, was a 10-year combat veteran. He served in the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to his campaign website.
The couple had been married for nine years.
Neighbor and friend Michael Hicks told Channel 2 Action News that Heather Phillips had a history of bipolar disorder and may have shot her husband before turning the gun on herself.
While police have not ruled out the possibility of a homicide, there were no apparent signs of a break-in, Wilbanks said.
“All the information we received so far points to some sort of a dispute,” he said.
Hicks said the couple was known to fight and they often argued about little things, such as the lights left on, but the news of their deaths hurt the whole community.
“When something like that happens, it hurts everybody,” Hicks said.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying, in part, “At this time investigators do not have reason to believe the neighborhood is in danger.”
An investigation is ongoing.
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