An Acworth man accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife and seriously wounding her mother died Monday after turning a gun on himself outside a Paulding County store, authorities said.
Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies responded to a home on Autumn Brook Drive in Canton just before 9:45 p.m. Sunday. They found Christopher Parrish Thomas II’s ex-wife, 30-year-old Victoria Thomas, dead from a gunshot wound in her mother’s house.
Her mother, 68-year-old Myrna Garcia, also was shot as she held her 4-month-old grandchild. The baby was uninjured, but Garcia was taken to a hospital and remained in stable but critical condition Thursday, according to the family.
A 10-year-old also was inside the home at the time but was not injured.
Christopher Thomas, 30, fled before deputies arrived and was on the run until he was found at a Walmart in Dallas shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. He was suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Earlier Monday, the vehicle Thomas was suspected to be driving was located in a Kennesaw residential area near Due West Road. The car appeared to have been parked for some time.
A spokesperson confirmed that Christopher Thomas served in the U.S. Army from October last year until March. He had no deployments and held the rank of private at the end of his service. The spokesperson declined to disclose the characterization of his discharge.
He was arrested Dec. 30 in Cobb County and charged with aggravated assault strangulation and battery of a pregnant person after allegedly choking Victoria Thomas, his wife at the time.
Court documents alleged he held her down on a bed by her neck and choked her. He also put his hand over her mouth and nose and punched her, which resulted in visible marks on her neck and a swollen black eye, officers wrote in a warrant for his arrest.
He was granted bond on the condition that he would not possess firearms or any other weapons “except for the limited and sole purpose” of his military obligations.
Victoria Thomas then divorced him and moved in with her mother, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds for Victoria Thomas’ funeral expenses and supplies to care for the children, who will be living with their aunt. Within two days, more than $36,000 has been raised.
Garcia is a pillar of the Latin American community and has worked for various organizations, including the Latin American Association in Georgia.
The group’s CEO, Santiago Marquez, has known Garcia for close to 20 years. He called her a positive person and motivated, always looking for opportunities to help the community, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The news took everyone by surprise, Marquez said, adding that it didn’t seem like many people were aware of the potential danger Garcia and her daughter faced with her former son-in-law.
“She’s always very happy and very forthcoming, so you would’ve never known what she was going through,” he said. “I think we’re all devastated. Someone we consider a friend and colleague is going through this, and I think the violent nature of the situation really has us, I want to say, on edge.”
If she survives, Garcia will have a long journey ahead after being a witness to her daughter’s killing.
“Being a father myself, I can’t even imagine what that is like,” Marquez said. “The reality of the situation is that there’s going to be a lot of trauma. And, you know, how does one even recover — or not even recover, but go on with life after that?”
As they wait for an update on her condition, the community is rallying in prayer and positive thoughts, and asking others to join them.
“For those that are believers, that are people of faith, just say a prayer for her and her family. For those that aren’t, keep her in your thoughts — push good thoughts her way. I do believe in the power of positive thinking and the power of prayer, and I think that’s the best we could do right now for her and her family,” Marquez said.
