Just a day after police across the Atlanta area fanned out in search of a man who shot five people at a medical facility, the small town of Moultrie, Georgia experienced a mass shooting.
The shooter who opened fire, killing three women before shooting himself, has been identified as 26-year-old Kentavious White.
White, who died by suicide, shot three other people, including his 50-year-old mother, whom he lived with, and his 74-year-old grandmother, who lived nextdoor, as well as killing a coworker at the McDonald’s fast food restaurant where he worked.
Thursday’s shooting was not the first time police had encountered the gunman, the Associated Press reports.
Jerry Goodwin, who lived next door to the alleged shooter, said police previously were sent to the man’s home a day earlier when he came outside, shouted something, and fired a gun.
“I had never seen him hurt anybody or try to hurt anybody before this,” Mr Goodwin said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting local police with their investigation.
Police presence temporarily shut down traffic in the town of 15,000 residents.
Gun violence in Georgia is nothing new.
The state is among the deadliest for gun violence in the country, according to data.
Georgia ranks 14th in gun violence mortality, according to the CDC, with a death rate of 20.3 deaths per 10,000 people.
The day before the Moultrie shooting took place, Deion Patterson allegedly opened fire at an Atlanta medical facility, killing one and injuring four others, before being captured at a swimming pool in Cobb County.
State officials say mental healthcare is available for residents processing what happened.
“Due to the situations that have happened recently as well as concerns of overall mental health, we want to remind community members that Georgia Pines is available to provide services for them,” Julio Ginel of Georgia Pines, a state mental health contractor, told The Moultrie Observer.
