A man accused of shooting a neighbor inside a Paulding County Home Depot on Friday morning has been released from police custody, authorities said.
Hiram police officers and Paulding County sheriff’s deputies were called to the store off Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway about 8:45 a.m after receiving reports of a shot fired.
Authorities arrived to find one man seriously injured. The alleged shooter was taken into custody for questioning, said Sgt. Ashley Henson, spokesman for the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators learned there was a verbal altercation in the garden center between two men, who were neighbors.
The argument then spilled over into the store, where it became physical. A 62-year-old man fired a single shot, hitting the 33-year-old victim in the torso, according to the sheriff’s office.
The wounded man went to the customer service center for help. He was taken to an Atlanta hospital and the alleged shooter was apprehended, officials said.
The suspected shooter was released Friday afternoon, Henson said, and no charges have been filed.
Henson said detectives are investigating whether the shooting may have been a case of self-defense.
“Nothing is set in stone yet. We’ve still got a lot of people to interview,” Henson said. “At this point, it’s still an open and active investigation and no one has been charged.”
Investigators are not sure what prompted the altercation, but police said the men have had differences in the past. Neither the suspect nor the victim are Home Depot employees. Their names have not been released.
At one point, the entrance to the store was blocked off with crime scene tape.
