A Newnan man has been arrested in the shooting deaths of four people and authorities are investigating if he’s the suspect in a double homicide, too.
Nicholas Martez Nelson, 38, faces four counts of murder, but more charges could be added, officials with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and the Newnan Police Department said Monday in separate news releases.
Newnan officers responded to the first shooting just before 8 p.m. Thursday in the 200 block of East Broad Street, Newnan police Deputy Chief Mark Cooper said. When officers arrived, they found two men with gunshot wounds. Willie Edward Bussie III, 39, and Kevin Duane Robbins, 43, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cooper.
While “preliminary investigations point toward Nelson being the shooter, further investigatory steps are being taken to determine if charges can be made,” he said. “Charges will be filed against Nelson as soon as probable cause is established in that case.”
Around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, police were sent to a location on Dowdell Street, where they found a man shot in a parking lot. The victim, 39-year-old Warner Mandrel Parks, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, Cooper said.
Investigators determined the shooter involved in Parks' death was driving a gray Ford Crown Victoria. A vehicle matching that description was found at the Red Roof Inn on Bullsboro Drive in Newnan, according to police.
Officials identified Nelson as the owner of the car, took him into custody for questioning and later charged him with one count of murder in connection with Parks' death.
On Sunday night, he was charged with three more counts of murder after the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office found three people dead at a Motel 6 on Herring Road. All “are local to this area” and had been shot, the sheriff’s office said in its release. The victims' names have not been released.
No other details were released regarding any of the incidents. The investigations are ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Newnan detectives at 770-254-2355 or Coweta County investigators at 770-253-1502.
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