- A robbery and shooting left three people dead at a gun range in Grantville, Georgia.
- The county coroner discovered the bodies of the deceased were his parents and his son.
- Police said about 40 weapons were stolen in the robbery, along with the range's surveillance camera.
A robbery targeting a gun range in the small town of Grantville, Georgia left three people dead on Friday, local authorities said.
The Grantville Police Department said that the Lock Stock & Barrel Shooting Range was robbed at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
"Sadly it was found that the owner, his wife and their grandson had been murdered. Approximately 40 weapons and the camera dvr were taken from the scene," the department said on Facebook.
The deceased were identified as Thomas Hawk, the 75-year-old owner of the range; his wife, Evelyn, 75; and their grandson, Luke, 17, according to the Associated Press.
"I've been here eight years and we've never had anything like this," police chief Steve Whitlock told WSB-TV. "Right now, I'm just speechless. I have a hard time talking about it because they were friends of ours. I've known them for a long time."
A popular and well-liked family in the town of 3,000, the Hawks operated the gun range for nearly 30 years, per the AP. Their grandson was helping at the range while he was on spring break.
"It's really hard because we don't have stuff like this here in Grantville," Whitlock said, per WSB-TV. "This is a nice, quiet little town."
Richard Hawk, Thomas and Evelyn's son who works as the Coweta County Coroner, discovered the bodies of his parents and his son at about 8 p.m. on Friday evening and called the police, according to WSB-TV.
"Tommy would do anything for anybody," Whitlock said, per the outlet. "It's just a nice family. It's been really hard."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the triple homicide and robbery, as is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, due to the number of weapons stolen.
The ATF, along with the City of Grantville and the National Sport Shooting Federation, have offered up a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects.
Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood said on Facebook that the community is "forever broken and changed by the senseless and tragic event."
"Richard has served faithfully for decades in our law enforcement community. He's a committed public servant and moreover a personal friend of mine. I have and will continue to provide every resource available to speak justice for the Hawk family," Wood said.