A man accused of killing three members of a Coweta County family was convicted of murder Monday afternoon and sentenced to life in prison.
On a Friday evening in 2022, the Hawk family was gunned down inside their business. County Coroner Richard Hawk was the one who made the heartbreaking discovery that his parents and his teenage son had been killed.
After the weeklong trial, a jury convicted Jacob Christian Muse of murder, Channel 2 Action News reported. Following the verdict, the judge sentenced Muse to life in prison without parole.
He was arrested the day after a joint funeral was held for Evelyn Hawk and her husband Tommy, both 75, and their 18-year-old grandson, Luke. Muse had been a customer at their gun shop, investigators said.
Credit: Coweta County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Coweta County Sheriff's Office
“Pray for us,” said Richard Hawk, who spoke briefly at the end of the funeral service, before leading the final worship song. “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.”
The shootings at the Lock Stock & Barrel gun range shocked the small town of Grantville — the first homicides there in more than 20 years. The GBI was called in to assist with the investigation, along with the ATF because more than 40 weapons had been stolen.
In the days after the killings, the Hawk family publicly shared that faith was leading them through.
“It’s changed the family forever,” Shelby Wright-Whitlock, family spokesperson and Luke’s aunt, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a year after the deaths. “We are celebrating Easter this year, but we’re celebrating it differently.”
Tommy Hawk worked for 30 years at Ford Motor Company before retiring to open his gun business, according to his online obituary. Evelyn played piano at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newnan and sang with the choir when she wasn’t working alongside her husband.
Credit: Branden Camp
Credit: Branden Camp
An East Coweta High School senior, Luke was in a work-study program that allowed him time to help his grandparents at the gun range. He had planned to attend Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. A scholarship fund was created at the Tifton college to honor him.
Mason Dewberry, a 2022 graduate of Newnan High School, was named the first recipient of the “Alexander ‘Luke’ Hawk Memorial Scholarship Endowment” and presented the award by the slain teen’s parents.
In addition to the scholarship, funds were donated to Coweta first responders in honor of Tommy Hawk. Money was donated to the Ronald McDonald House in honor of Evelyn Hawk.
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