A week after three members of a Coweta County family were killed in an apparent robbery, investigators arrested a suspect. But the police chief of the small town said the work continues in the case.
Jacob Christian Muse, a 21-year-old from College Park, was arrested Friday, the GBI announced in a news release. He was charged with three counts of malice murder in connection with the April 8 killings at the Lock Stock and Barrel shooting range in Grantville.
Muse was booked into the Coweta County jail, where he remained held without bond late Friday. No further details were released regarding the arrest.
“Even though he’s in jail and with warrants signed for murder, there’s a lot more to work,” Grantville police Chief Steve Whitlock told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Officers from the GBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have worked with the Grantville Police Department and continue to investigate the triple homicide. Other neighboring agencies had also offered their help in recent days. Whitlock said that teamwork led to the arrest a week after the killings.
“They’ve been working 24 hours a day,” Whitlock said. “It’s not really over until they say ‘guilty’ in court.”
On April 8, three family members were killed during what investigators believe was a robbery at the family business. The victims were Tommy Richard Hawk Sr., the 75-year-old owner, his wife Evelyn Hawk, also 75, and their 18-year-old grandson Alexander “Luke” Hawk, a senior at East Coweta High School.
Credit: Branden Camp
Credit: Branden Camp
Coweta County Coroner Richard Hawk discovered the bodies of his parents and his son after they’d been shot to death inside the gun range shop. He co-owned the business, property records show. Investigators said about 40 weapons were stolen from the shop at 514 Bohannon Road, along with the business’ security camera DVR.
The arrests shocked the community and normally quiet Grantville, where it had been at least 20 years since a homicide was reported, according to the GBI.
“I’ve been here eight years and it’s been a nice, little quiet place,” Whitlock said earlier this week.
Whitlock declined to say late Friday whether Muse knew the Hawk family. He said the family was relieved by the arrest.
The arrest came one day after family members laid the three victims to rest. The coroner asked for prayers for his family during the funeral service Thursday at Unity Baptist Church in Newnan. Hawk and his family members have relied on their faith to guide them through the tragedy.
“Pray for us,” he said. “At the same time, pray for whoever did this, that law enforcement, when they find them, if they’re not in a firefight and they don’t kill them, that God will give me and my pastor an opportunity to go and preach to them and tell them who God is. They obviously don’t know.”
A reward of up to $25,000 had been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. It was not known late Friday whether anyone was eligible for the reward.
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
TO HONOR THE FAMILY
GoFundMe: An online fundraising page has been created by a family member.
The Coweta Community Foundation, Hawk Memorial: Donors can go directly to the Coweta community Foundation website and click ‘donate.’ Click the “donation in Memory or Honor” so the Foundation can track who made a donation and provide details for the family.
The Alexander “Luke” Hawk Memorial Scholarship at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC): Luke was supposed to start school at ABAC in the fall. Memorial contributions can be made at www.abac.edu/lukehawkmemorial or by check made payable to the ABAC Foundation and mailed to: ABAC Foundation (13), 2802 Moore Highway, Tifton, GA 31793.
