Crime & Public Safety
Crime & Public Safety

Paulding man charged with murder after neighborhood shooting

Suspect’s 73-year-old father was 1 of the 2 victims
By
Updated March 6, 2025

A man was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder after sheriff’s deputies say he opened fire in a Paulding County neighborhood late Friday night.

Residents in the Fox Ridge subdivision in Dallas called 911 just before midnight after Jody Thomas Wales, 56, allegedly shot two people in two houses, officials said. They were both critically injured and taken to the hospital, where 73-year-old Larry Thomas Wales, Jody Wales’ father, died of his injuries.

The other victim remained in critical condition Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Other residents subdued the suspect until deputies arrived and arrested him, officials said.

Investigators do not know the motive behind the shooting, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office confirmed.

Jody Wales was charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault and battery, and two counts each of burglary and criminal damage to property, according to the sheriff’s office.

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