Crime & Safety
8-Year-Old Killed In Double Shooting, Suicide Attempt: Police
Austell home erupted in gunfire following late Valentine's Day domestic dispute that turned deadly.
AUSTELL — A man is in critical condition after he fatally shot his brother and a child then turned the gun on himself, police said.
Sunday around 8:30 p.m., Cobb County Police responded to reports of gunfire at a home in the 900 block of Peel Castle Lane in Austell. Officers arrived to find the two men and an 8-year-old boy all with gunshot wounds.
Dreyon Mathis, 31, was dead when officers reached the location, Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk said. The child was taken to a nearby hospital but did not survive, Delk said.
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The alleged shooter, 27-year-old Jermery Mathis, also was taken to the hospital with “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” police said. He remains in critical condition.
The investigation is ongoing and police detectives ask that anyone with information about the incident contact the Cobb County Police Crimes Against Persons unit at 770-499-3945.
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