A Georgia man suspected to have executed five people over a domestic dispute on Friday night, was found the victim of an apparent suicide in his Appling, Georgia home on Saturday. Columbia County Sheriff Captain Andy Shedd confirmed that the body of the man they sought on account of witness statements, 50-year-old Wayne Anthony Hawes, was recovered in his garage with a self inflicted bullet wound to the head. There was also evidence that Hawes attempted to set fire to the house, said Shedd.
Authorities responded to two shootings on the night of April 22nd, with the first occurring 20 miles west of Augusta at 7:54 p.m. and the second shooting reported about a mile away at 8:32 p.m. Three victims - [Rheba Mae Dent, 85, Roosevelt Burns, 75, and 31-year-old Kelia Clark] - were discovered upon arriving at a home on Johnson Drive, before deputies were called to a second incident on Washington Road, where Lizzy Williams, 59, and Shelly Williams, 62 had been gunned down in what turned out to be a related incident. Two of the victims were relatives of the shooter's wife, Angela Dent, leading authorities to link the shootings, with Rheba Mae Dent being her grandmother and Lizzy Williams being Dent's cousin. It was later determined that the motive likely involved the killer learning that his wife had plans to divorce him.
It has been revealed that Hawes was distressed leading up to the rampage, with daughter Lauren Hawes calling him a "ticking time bomb" after her mother walked out on him a week ago. There is reason to believe that the wife, Dent, and daughter Hawes sensed he would attack, as she told authorities they had been hiding out in a neighbor's house with her 1-year-old daughter at the time of the shootings. The homicides are likely to be reviewed as a crime of passion considering family and friends claim to have seen no clues that any planning went into the murders.
“He’s done things that were questionable in the past, but never to this extent. This is very surprising. We thought he could possibly hurt himself, but not others,” said Lauren Hawes.
An investigation is ongoing.
Source: nydailynews.com
