© USA TODAY News out of Georgia
Police are searching for at least one armed robber who authorities say stole weapons and killed the owner of a gun range in Georgia, his wife and his grandson.
The Grantville Police Department said via Facebook that the robbery occurred Friday evening. When officers arrived at the scene around 8 p.m., they saw the bodies, including the owner of Lock, Stock & Barrel Shooting Range.
Federal authorities, concerned by the number of weapons stolen, have offered a reward of $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers in the case. Local police have estimated that dozens of guns and the range’s surveillance camera were stolen.
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According to WSB-TV, Grantville Police identified the victims as the gun range owner, Thomas Hawk, 75; his wife, Evelyn, 75; and their teenage grandson.
Police Chief Steve Whitlock said the Hawk family was well-known and well-respected in their small, tight-knit community. The Hawks had operated Lock, Stock & Barrel for nearly 30 years. Their grandson was on spring break, helping his grandparents at the shop.
“This is just a shock to everybody in the community,” Whitlock told The Associated Press. “We’re trying to do the best that we can to figure this out.”
Whitlock said investigators believe the robbery and shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. Friday, which is when the range normally closes. He said Hawk’s son, Richard, came by the business and was the person who found the victims.
There are no suspects as of early Saturday, and no arrests have been made, Whitlock said.
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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also called in due to the amount of weapons taken.
The Atlanta office of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said in a statement posted to Twitter that “individuals fled the store” with an “unknown” number of firearms.
The fact that the individuals took numerous firearms poses a risk to residents in the surrounding area, the office said in the statement.
“Armed suspects and stolen firearms pose a potential danger to citizens and communities,” the statement said.
Whitlock said he’s grateful for the help from other law enforcement agencies in the investigation.
“We’re just a small town, 12 officers. I’ve been here eight years and have never had to investigate anything like this. It’s been kind of hard on us. The crime rate is really, really low,” he said.
Lock, Stock & Barrel Shooting Range is a federal firearms licensee, according to the ATF’s Atlanta office, and the reward money includes funds from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade association.
“ATF and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring the killer(s) to justice,” ATF Atlanta Field Division Special Agent in Charge Benjamin P. Gibbons said in a statement. “The brutality of these senseless murders along with the fact that these killer(s) have acquired additional firearms makes solving this case our top priority.”
Police are looking for witnesses and asking any to come forward. Whitlock said they don’t have any video evidence to work with right now.
The shooting range is in rural Coweta County, about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Federal officials investigating after 3 killed, weapons stolen in gun range robbery in Georgia