The Henry County juvenile accused of shooting and killing his sister's boyfriend has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, police announced Thursday.
Henry County police Lt. Joey Smith said a superior court judge issued a warrant Wednesday charging the boy, who the sheriff’s office identified as Jared Lyon. Lyon, whose exact age has not been released, was arrested and released after posting bond.
He is being charged as an adult.
“The case will now be presented to a grand jury,” Smith said in a statement. “We will not be able to discuss the specifics of this case.”
Seventeen-year-old Dalton McCollough was killed May 5 at his girlfriend’s home on Wyckliffe Drive in Locust Grove. Authorities said at the time that the girlfriend’s younger brother, now identified as Lyon, shot McCollough when the couple was engaged in an argument.
An incident report obtained Thursday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not provide specifics about the events leading up to the shooting. It did, however, say that Lyon claimed that the shooting was “self-defense.”
Lyon, who was “very upset,” reportedly told police “that he just wanted to protect his sister and that his dad always told him to protect his sister.”
McCollough was lying face down in the garage when police arrived, the report said. He was declared dead at the scene.
Lyon was detained by police following the shooting but released into the custody of his parents while authorities investigated.
No other details have been released regarding the case.
Under Georgia law, voluntary manslaughter occurs when a person commits an act that would “otherwise be murder … as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation.”
Upon conviction, the charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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