It wasn’t immediately clear to authorities how a man’s body found behind a Peachtree City apartment complex Saturday came to be there — until they moved it and found a “defect” on the torso.
A GBI autopsy on Monday confirmed the man was shot, and Peachtree City police have ruled his death a homicide. He was identified by police as Michael Tolbert, 34, of Peachtree City.
Tolbert’s body was found Saturday morning behind the Wisdom Pointe apartment complex, police spokesman Lt. Mark Brown said. Someone spotted the body in thick brush behind the complex parking lot, located in the 200 block of Joel Cowan Parkway.
The day before, officers looked into a report of several gunshots heard at the nearby Woodsmill Apartments off Wisdom Road, which backs up to the Wisdom Pointe complex. While no suspects were located during an initial search Friday afternoon, police later identified 26-year-old Thomas James Blandburg as the alleged shooter.
The Peachtree City man was arrested late Sunday night.
The two shootings have not been linked, but police are looking into the possibility.
“Detectives are actively investigating any potential relationship between the shots fired at Woodsmill and the body found behind Wisdom Point,” Brown said in a news release.
Blandburg is facing a charge of reckless conduct stemming from the Woodsmill shooting. He is accused of firing rounds of bullets toward one of the apartment buildings.
He is also facing a charge of aggravated assault in connection with another shooting Friday in his own neighborhood on Wynnmeade Parkway. According to police, multiple rounds were fired toward an occupied vehicle.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Peachtree City police at 770-487-8866 or by submitting an anonymous tip here.
— Staff writer Chelsea Prince contributed to this article.
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