Left to right: Kentavious White killed fellow McDonald’s employee Amia Smith, her grandmother Hilda Marshall and mother Susie Arnold, bottom, in Moultrie, Georgia, before taking her own life, authorities said. (Screenshot from Southwest Georgia NBC/ABC affiliate WALB)
A 26-year-old man shot and killed his mother and grandmother in their home, then killed a manager of a McDonald’s where he worked before killing himself Thursday at the restaurant in Georgia, authorities said.
Kentavious White was identified as the shooter in Thursday morning’s shooting that shocked the community of less than 15,000 people.
“A murder is quite rare in our part of the country. It’s surprising,” Chas Cannon, the Colquitt County government administrator, told The Associated Press.
Authorities said it took place at three separate crime scenes early Thursday. Authorities have received a report of a man and woman found dead at a McDonald’s restaurant in Moultrie, Georgia, about 200 miles south of Atlanta.
McDonald’s surveillance footage shows White arriving at the restaurant, summoning his manager to the door and shooting him, before he walked in and killed himself, authorities said.
The culprit has been identified as Amia Smith, 41.
Smith’s cousin, Felicia McGough, called it a foolish act, according to WALB-TV.
“I don’t know what made him do that,” she told the station.
Devan Straggis, Smith’s colleague, told the station she was generous and sweet.
“She always had a positive attitude,” he told the station.
George Suarez, owner and operator of the Moultrie branch of McDonald’s, which reopened on Friday with purple ribbons tied to the doors and employees wearing purple to honor Smith, released a statement saying, “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved restaurant manager, and our hearts go out to all the victims of this senseless act of violence.
Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock told the AP that White shot and killed his mother, Susie Arnold, 50, and grandmother, Hilda Marshall, 74, at their nearby homes less than 2 miles from McDonald’s. Arnold died in a hospital. Marshall was found dead in her home, the AP reported.
Tanner Strickland paid tribute to Arnold and Marshall, who worked at a local assisted living facility.
“Hilda would have been at work today. Both are two of the most amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of being with,” said Tanner Strickland, one of their colleagues.
The Moultrie Observer, citing police investigator Nathan Cato, reported that White was involved in a shooting with a man in his neighborhood on Tuesday during his lunch break. No one was hit.
The AP reported that Rahiem Rashad Kinsey, 30, of Moultrie, a former McDonald’s employee, shot White and was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm while committing a crime. He remained in prison on Friday in Moultrie. It is unclear if he has an attorney, the AP reported.
Moultrie Police Chief Sean Ladson told WALB that this shooting “does not correlate to the shooting that happened on Thursday.”
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