Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Grandma, Grandpa, Teen Grandson Murdered at Family Gun Range; KILLER AT LARGE

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

Three people found dead at a Georgia gun range. The owners, 71-year-old Thomas Richard Hawk Sr., his wife, Evelyn Hawk, and their 19-year-old grandson, Luke Hawk, found shot, in what authorities say appears to be a violent triple murder and robbery. Richard Hawk, Luke’s father, drove to the shooting range to check on his son and parents when they did not come home. He found their bodies on the floor several steps away from each other. Police said about 40 weapons and a security camera recorder were reportedly stolen. Local police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are investigating. The Lock, Stock and Barrel gun range in Grantville, Georgia, is about an hour southwest of Atlanta..Joining Nancy Grace Today: James Shelnutt - 27 years Atlanta Metro Area Major Case Detective, Former S.W.A.T. officer, Attorney, The Shelnutt Law Firm, P.C., www.ShelnuttLawFirm.com, Twitter: @ShelnuttLawFirm Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com, Twitter: @carynpsych, Facebook: "Caryn Stark"  Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan" Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org, Twitter: @ColdCaseTips Justin Carter - WSB-TV, @Jus2ice on Instagram @JustinCarterTV on Facebook Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Grandparents and their teen boy grandson visiting them on spring break, all dead, not by an accident, not by a car crash. They were murdered. The grandparents own a mom and pop gun range. And somehow, from what we know right now, a perp had been watching. Drives up 5 30 in the afternoon closing time on a Friday and the three end up murdered, shot dead. This young boy had just gotten his cap and gown for his high school graduation. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Station and Sirius XM 111. Take a listen to our

friends at WXIA 11. Grantville Police Chief Steve Whitlock says the call was something he never expected. The assistant chief, he called me and said that we had a tragedy. In his exact words, we've had a tragedy in Grantville. And I said, what are you talking about? And he said, we've had a possible triple murder. And it floored me. Police cars were still blocking the road early Saturday as investigators collected what evidence they could at Lock, Stock and Barrel gun range. Tony Hawk, his wife Evelyn and their grandson Luke were killed. Luke's father, Richard, who is also the Coweta County coroner, is the one police say found their bodies. A tragedy, yes. A triple homicide, yes.

But who is the perp? With me in all-star panel to break it down and put it back together, what do we know now? James Shelnut, 27 years, Metro Major Case, now lawyer at the Shelnut firm. Karen Stark, renowned psychologist, joining us out of Manhattan. At karenstark.com, Karen with a C. Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics,

Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of a brand new hit series, Body Bags, with Joe Scott Morgan on iHeart. Cheryl McCollum, founder, director of the Cold Case Research Institute. You can find her at coldcasecrimes.org. But first, to a special guest joining us, Justin Carter, WSB TV. Justin, thank you for being with us. What do we know right now? Let's talk about Grantville. First of all, tiny, tiny, tiny off. I guess it would be I-85 or is it I-20 in Coweta County? Oh, yeah, Nancy, this is a small town. I would say thirty five hundred people, according to neighbors. I've been speaking with neighbors all week, all weekend. I would say 3,500 people, according to neighbors.

I've been speaking with neighbors all week, all weekend, I should say, you know, ever since this happened. It happened Friday night. Police say that it happened around 530, 630. And that's key, Nancy, because. Now, hold on. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I thought they at first said between 530 and 630 and then somehow narrowed it down to 530.

Is that not accurate? That is accurate. It's around that time. So it's around closing time. They've pinpointed that. So between 530 and 630, which is around closing time, the time that the Hawks family typically closes the lock, stock and barrel gun range. And Nancy, I just want to paint the picture for you. This is a rural town. Like I said, 3,500 people. Everybody knows each other. And the gun range, it sits back a few feet from the actual road. It's on Bohannon Road in Coweta County in Grantville. And just a very rural, desolate road. You know, again, not everybody knows each other. And houses are spread apart.

They're pretty spread apart. Maybe I would say there's, you know, a house every quarter of a mile. So that kind of paints the picture to show how small this town is and, you know, how close-knit this town is too. Justin, I'm curious. With me, Justin Carter from WSB-TV.

Were there any billboards on the interstate advertising, lock, stock, and barrel? Not that I saw. It's a 45-minute drive from Atlanta, the WSB-TV station in Atlanta, to Grantville, Coweta County. Well, you must be flying because it's 50 miles from here. I mean, yeah, I guess maybe wherever you are, I don't know, just comparing the two. But yeah, it was about 45 minutes. You know, I'm a morning reporter on the weekend, so there's typically no traffic. So it took us about 40, 45, 50 minutes to get there. Very rural and very remote. Now, who needs a billboard when

you've got a website which opens you up to a lot of people all around the world that can find you? This, again, let me say, was a small mom and pop gun range and gun shop. They had an indoor and an outdoor range of about 150 yards that you could shoot. But you know what's interesting? Let me go to you, James Shelnut, 27 years Metro Major case, detective, and now lawyer. James, typically when you have a gun shop robbery, it's a burglary. That's a subtle but important distinction. A burglary occurs when no one's inside. They go in after it's closed and rob it. Because typically, I mean, think about it. With a gun shop, the perps would think that the gun store owners are probably more heavily armed than they are.

They're outgunned, clearly. So it's very rare that we see a gun shop, a gun store, robbed, arm robbed, not burglarized. Think about it. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. And, you know, I've been in this place. This is my home county that I was raised in. I knew these people. I had been in this gun shop before. I'm familiar with that area.

And I will tell you, it is very odd that it was not broken into at night. Normally what you see is you see somebody create some diversion on the other side of the city or county, and then they run in and smash the doors in and grab the guns. They walked in and confronted the owner. And Tommy generally carried a gun. He generally had a gun on him. It just raises a lot of questions that we can talk about later. Did he have a stroke and he was out and he was just now coming back?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know his medical condition, but I knowist, 75 years old, and their teen grandson. Now, you know, Justin Carter, he, I think, was on a spring break and was helping out at the gun range. He just happened to be there. I want to talk about what was stolen, what specifically was stolen, Justin Carter. So yeah, Nancy, police have kind of been tight-lipped right now as far as what has been stolen. Of course, the ATF was brought in to investigate because there were so many guns stolen. We're told upwards of 40 guns were stolen, and they have been upping their reward to reflect just how

serious this crime was. But yeah, they really haven't been specific on what exactly what guns were stolen, but they were definitely large guns when we were shooting video over the weekend. I've been apprised that at least 40 guns and very important, the security DVR was taken. Now that means this perp if it is just one perp which I doubt is no idiot. Let's talk about forensics. Joseph Scott Morgan joining me, Professor Forensic at Jacksonville State University and Cheryl McCollum, founder and director of the Cold Case Research Institute. First to you, Joe Scott. If you've got a DVR, that suggests to me that the video is not in the cloud. It's on the DVR. Yeah, you're right.

It's on some kind of hard drive that's there. Now, who in the hay would know so intimately that if they took the DVR, there would be no video. Who would know it's not in the cloud? Yeah, it goes to a bigger point here. That means that somebody has been watching. That means that somebody, in my opinion, has set foot in here before. And this goes to the idea that why would you have to eradicate two generations of this family? Well, that means that there is a high probability that this individual may have been familiar with this family. They didn't just rob it. They had to shoot them dead because they could identify them. I mean, the whole MO is all wrong, Cheryl McCollum.

It's all wrong for a gunshot robbery, a gunshot burglary. You know, why would you go in with the cars? I think they had a pickup truck, one or two pickup trucks parked right there. The perp knew that they were inside. Why not wait until they're closed up? Yeah, there was at least two pickup trucks. So you absolutely knew somebody was in that store. And again, being a pickup truck, if it weren't the owners or one was the owner, one was somebody else in there actively shooting.

So it seems like that would have, you know, hesitated this person somewhat. You know, Georgia's had two gun shops robbed and burglarized in the last four or five years, all after hours. So again, the fact they were there. And that's all wrong. And why not just take the guns and let the people live? Why not that? Guys, take a listen to our Cut 11, Elizabeth Rollins. Investigators stood out front of city

hall announcing that that reward now stands at 25 000 for anyone with information it was a busy weekend for investigators in calwita county tracking any possible leads after a family was murdered inside their grantville business but at a news conference on monday investigators announced they still do not know who shot and killed rich Hawk, his wife Evelyn, and their teenage grandson Luke at the Lock and Stock Barrel Range. As of yesterday, there was a $15,000 total reward for information that would lead to an arrest and successful prosecution. The search is now getting nationwide attention, including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signing an executive order Monday afternoon pledging to contribute $10,000 to the reward fund. We are providing a tip line and that number is 188-ATF-TIPS. Interesting that the ATF has been brought into the case. You've got the Grantville Police Department, you've got Coweta County Sheriffs on it,

you have the GBI on it, but now the ATF, and it is because so many guns were stolen, at least 40. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace big question to you justin carter wsb tv did they secure the guns at night just think of a jewelry store they take all the expensive jewelry out of the front window when they close and they put it back in the vault. With a gun shop, very often you will see a steel cable run through the guns so they can't be taken or taken down off the stands like the diamond rings and put in a vault of some sort.

Did the victims in this case at lock, stock, and barrel, did they remove the guns or secure them at closing time? Well, Nancy, right now it is unclear. I did ask the police chief, Steve Whitlock, you know, what was it like inside? Can you paint that picture for us? Can you tell us what was going on inside or, you know, just set the scene for us? And he said that, you know, it was flipped upside down, you know, as expected when a robbery of this magnitude happens. So as far as how the shop was set up and, you know, where the guns were, were they in the case, were they behind a counter, that is to be determined. And that's what the GBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations is working on right now. What do you know, James Shelnut, you've been in there before. Yeah, they did have cases at one point in time. He also did have guns stored in

the back at one point in time. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not telling me whether they were secured or not. Well, they were secured in a glass case the last time that I saw this. Secured in a glass case. As much as they can be in a glass case. Okay. I don't know what alternate universe you're living in, but you are familiar with the term smash and grab. Okay, I'm looking at a picture right now of the inside of Lock, Stock, and Barrel, and there are many, many handguns for sale. There's nothing between me and them but a piece of glass. That's not secured. I agree.

They were stored would be a much better way to put it, sure. In plain view. Agreed. So I'm just wondering, I'm thinking this through, Cheryl McCollum, if the perp knew that the guns would be removed from the case at closing time and put away, or they would be secured in some way. Well, I think that's why he went in right at closing time before that away, or they would be secured in some way. Well, I think that's why he went in right at closing time. Before that was able to happen, he was able to get access very quickly.

Cheryl, that's what I just said. No, I'm agreeing with you 100%. You're supposed to say something different. You're not just supposed to sit there and say what she said. But in this case, that's what I honestly believe happened. I think the timing was deliberate. I think it was executed the way that they wanted it to be done. I think this was for the resale up somewhere like New York,

because in Atlanta, you know, a stolen gun is going to be worth about $200. You get it to Atlanta. I mean, New York, it's going to be worth about $1,200. This is a $60,000 crime, lowballing it. Who would have done it? Again, the working theory is that this family was gunned down, including a teen boy set to graduate with honors on May 25. Why gun him down? Back to Justin Carter joining us from WSB-TV. It's my understanding all three victims were lying on the ground, on the floor,

just a few steps away from each other. Yes. We, I did not get that specific piece of information from the police chief directly. Again, the GBI is, you know, working around the clock, and we're getting most of our information from the police chief. But as far as the extent of where they were shot and where they were located, I have not heard anything about that. Nancy, listen, if you've got three people that are lying on the floor in immediate proximity of one another, that would give you an indication style. Yeah, well, yeah. And control. So that means that I think that this goes to probably more than one

perpetrator. One other thing here, you're talking about 40 weapons, Nancy. If you begin to do the math on this, this isn't like you're going to smash and grab a couple of handguns out of a case and run out to the car with them and take off. This takes time, and it takes some level of precision in order to do this. These weapons, some of them, depending off. This takes time, and it takes some level of precision in order to do this. These weapons, some of them, depending upon the type of weapon, can be heavy, and so it's just not one person that's toting these out of the door unless they execute these individuals as soon as this took place. You have to have somebody on top of these people controlling them so that you're not going to receive any harm as the perpetrator.

That's why I think that there's more than two violators that are involved in this thing. So you got one person to stand over and control them. The other person is rummaging around, maybe even three. Who knows? But I can tell you, it's not just one person. And think of the exertion used to take all of those weapons out of the gun shop and transport them. This is what I think should be being done right now. Number one, list of customers, everybody that had bought a gun, everybody that had been to the gun range over the last two years. in the case of Alex Murdoch. Remember him? The lawyer in Carolina, his wife and his son end up dead, and he tries to shoot himself in the head. Turned out to be his dope dealing buddy that did it. In that case, as we discussed, Joe Scott Morgan, you and Cheryl and I, the fact that at

the end of the rural road, dirt road, where Murdoch was shot in the head and lived, was a church. As I recall, maybe the Emmanuel Baptist, no, First Baptist. And they had a surveillance camera in their parking lot. Now, we know the DVR surveillance video has been taken out of lock, stock and barrel gun range. We know that. What about this? What about every ring doorbell up and down that highway? What about every red light cam?

What about every gas station cam? What about any... The flock camera. What? The flock camera. I know Peachtree City, Noonan, Coweta County, they have the flock camera that can trace vehicles all the way from Georgia to Alabama to Tennessee to Florida. That's right. What about, we're close to Interstate 85.

What about tag grabbers going up and down the interstate around 5 o'clock and after going the other way. There are so many ways to try to get surveillance, but it takes time. But number one, getting that customer list and anybody that had been using the shooting range. Is anybody with me on that? Yeah, I am, Nancy. And I got to tell you, I'm looking at a map right now. The easiest way to access this place is off of a highway that's a combo highway called 1429, 29 being an old federal road. And you literally have to take a left-hand turn if you're coming from the south Grantville U.S. Postal Service. You're passing by Dollar General.

You're passing by the Grantville branch of the Coweta Library there. There's all kinds of places. You even pass by a public housing location. So these are all en route to this location. You got to figure that somewhere along this range, right through here, unless they entered from the north, there are going to be surveillance cams all along this road until you get out to this kind of desolate stretch that's to the north side of Grantville. You know, another thing that you... And Nancy... Hold on, Cheryl. Justin Carter, you said that there'd be a house

about every quarter mile? Yeah, about every quarter mile, Nancy. And also, I just want to point out, too, there is a major movie production being filmed in Grantville as we speak. Just down the road, I would say maybe a mile down the road, it took my breath away when I saw that the Color Purple, the motion picture of the Color Purple is filming in Grantville, right down the street. They're're building sets um they are you know painting buildings to prepare for this big motion picture so that also has to be into play too this area the grantville area right now is uh it's an unprecedented time uh for them right now because that there's this big movie production happening just down the street there are security guards out there as well that may have seen something. And I'm sure that there are there's some type of surveillance system out there to

protect the trailers, the, you know, million dollar trailers and, you know, production equipment out Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. that when the coroner's office arrived at the scene, it turned out to be his, the coroner's son and parents that were dead. Explain, Justin Carner. Oh my gosh, Nancy. I think that is probably the worst little nugget out of all of this. It was around 8 p.m., so about two hours after this allegedly happened, the Coweta County coroner, who is named after his father, his name is Richard Hawk, he discovered the bodies, and he called 911. And so that is just

a horrific piece and detail of this story that many people around town and Granville and in the Atlanta area are struggling to grapple with. You know, you witness and you stumble upon just this grisly scene and it is your family members. So, you know, that little nugget there is just heart wrenching. And we did reach out to the Coweta County Coroner, Richard Hoggs, over the weekend. He did say that he was appreciative of all the love and support, all the flowers people have been dropping off, all the teddy bears, and he is definitely asking the public as well to respect his family's privacy at this time. The tip line, if you know or think you know anything, is for ATF, 888-283-8477.

Repeat, 888-283-8477. Toll free. There is also a way to report it and get that $25,000 reward. And that is going online to report it report it and you can remain anonymous there take a listen to our cut nine from abc i've been here eight years and we've never had nothing like this an unimaginable tragedy in grantville right now i'm speechless really i've had a hard time talking about it because like i said they were good friends of ours i've known them for a long time grantville police chief steve Whitlock says it was around closing time,

5.30 Friday evening, when the lock, stock, and barrel shooting range was robbed. Hours went by. Police say the owner's son stopped by around 8 o'clock and made that horrific discovery. Inside were the owners, his parents, Tommy Hawk in his 70s, his wife Evelyn Hawk, and their teenage grandson, Luke Hawk. We're told Luke was on spring break helping his grandparents at the shop. So many questions right now, but again, reportit.com or 888-283-8477. There is a $25,000 reward.

Now, that has been upgraded, has it not, Justin? Didn't it start at 15 and then 10 was added on or vice versa? Correct. Correct, Nancy. The governor's office is now involved and they just recently upped that reward $10,000 just as early as yesterday for any information leading to concrete, for, you know, any concrete information leading to an arrest in this case. To you, Cheryl McCollum, or really anyone on the panel, guns are easily traced. Explain how it works, Cheryl. Well, you can trace a gun through the serial number. You can trace it through the striations that it leaves.

There's lots of ways you can trace a weapon. And that's one thing I was going to say, depending on what they were shot with, the type of weapon, the caliber, those bullets are most likely intact. And if they were able to retrieve those, that's going to be a fabulous thing. If it was an automatic, we won't have a casing, but if it wasn't, we might. They might've, you know, taken that too. We don't know. We don't know what all they did, but Grantville is 3,000 people. So everybody was connected to this family that lives in that town. They went to school with them, church with them, were friends with them, worked with them. But the other thing that I think is going to be really powerful here that we hadn't talked about are the cell phone towers. Oh, you're right. And, you know, Grantville, I mean, you go to Lutherville and take a left. So that last tower that people hit on,

you're not going to be talking about that many phones to go through. It's moving. And then they'll be able to see what tower that phone comes in at and leaves at. And regarding the guns and the bullets, I was specifically asking about the guns that were stolen, because those are going to hit the street at a huge markup. This could end up being thousands and thousands of dollars that these killers... Well, I guarantee you that serial numbers have already been obliterated. So that's going to be a little more difficult and they won't have them on the registry. Yes, it will. To you, Joe Scott Morgan, there is actually a bullet, an ammo database, much like the fingerprint database, the DNA database, like CODIS and

APHIS. There is a bullet database in effect right now. Yeah. And hey, what did we learn at the top of the hour or at the top of the show? Rather, the ATF is involved. And interestingly enough, the ATF is actually the agency that controls that database. So they control if a weapon is fired. And as Mac had mentioned, you recover the actual projectile. It will have striations or the markings on the bullet from the rifling when it comes down the gun. And those are unique to every particular weapon. And say, for instance, a weapon has been used in the commission of a felony. If you can trace that back to that particular weapon after

it's been utilized, then that is essentially a ballistic fingerprint that you can track it down with. However, this is the problem. Unless that weapon or that ammo is already in the database, you're not going to have a print that goes back to it. It's like people always say with me, well, why don't you use DNA to solve the case? Okay, well, yeah, we can collect DNA, but if we don't have pre-existing DNA to compare it to, there's a problem. So that's where you're going to bump up against a wall with these. These are, I'm sure that there's probably some weapons here that have been kind of used in trade. Maybe they've been purchased, they're used weapons. Maybe those

have some kind of markings on them that you can trace back. However, if they're new weapons, it's not going to be in the database. To James Shelnut, joining us, 27 years Metro Major case, now a lawyer at Shelnut Law Firm. James Shelnut, Cheryl McCollum just said something that caught my attention. The fact that with these guns, if they sell them with the serial number on them, they're dead meat because it's going to be traced right back to them. But I believe she's right. I believe they will have to file down the serial numbers on the guns. That's going to take a minute for 40 guns. That means, in my estimation, they still have the guns right now.

If they're apprehended right now, they will still have the weapons. That would be powerful proof. Yeah, I think that there's definitely a chance of that. And a lot of times as well, you know, people will hold on to these guns for a minute, kind of let things calm down and then maybe put them in the in the circulation of the criminal world. You know, and the flip side of that is they may want to get rid of them quickly, too. But I've found a lot of times that we'll hold on to these guns. It does take time to get these serial numbers off. These serial numbers are not easily ground off. Even taking a tool, sometimes after they've been ground on for a while, you can still make out a serial number by processing that

weapon. So I believe that out of 40 weapons, it's hard for me to believe that at some point in time, if this case is not resolved before then, at some point in time, one of those weapons is going to be recovered and that's going to allow them to be able to backtrack in their investigation the source of those weapons. To you, Karen Stark, joining us, a psychologist joining us out of Manhattan. Karen, the mindset that it would take to go in and gun down two seniors, 75 years old, one's just had a stroke, the other is a female, his wife, and their teen grandson, who's, you know, 10 days away from high school graduation.

You know, Nancy, I keep thinking about that, and the fact that it's such a small town and everyone knows each other. And what I wonder is, if it was some kind of a robbery gone wrong, they were the person, whoever these perps are, were identified. They could know them. They knew them. And so they felt they had to kill them. that Tony Hawk was a hero trying to be a hero or his grandson and did something to try and stop it and defend themselves because it just doesn't make a lot of sense that they would need to kill them

or even go there at a time when they were there unless they somehow thought they wouldn't be identified and something went wrong. That's what it seems like to me. Or it's a psychopath and could care less about the people involved. They're ragdolls and they're just going for the gun. Justin Carter, WSB-TV, joining us. Do we know if the gun range had an alarm system?

I would say in that remote area with 3,500 population, no, but they had security surveillance. Yeah, that's right. And there's many signs plastered all around the gun range saying that the building is heavily secured. As far as an alarm, there was no indication from where I was standing. Of course, it's been blocked off for several days now, going on four or five days now. But there was no indication, Nancy, that there were any alarms inside. But definitely there were signs, I would say several signs plastered all throughout, all throughout the building, outside the building and by the lock, stock and barrel sign along the road that said that the business was being monitored by surveillance. So you're saying there were signs all along the road leading up to the gun shop? No, there was a sign right by, there's a sign right next to the road

where the entrance is of the gun shop. And it says lock, stock and barrel. It has the phone number. It says that it's a family owned business. And then right under that sign, it says we are being monitored by surveillance. I don't know what the company is, like RV surveillance, what I do recall. And then there is a sign as well by the front entrance as well as the building. You know, it's interesting about that, the fact that they had security surveillance. If it's not hooked up to the cloud, taking the DVR would get rid of all that security surveillance. But the timing, 5.30 in the afternoon, if somebody knew that there was an alarm system, the way to beat the alarm, which would typically call police immediately if there's a

burglary, is to go in before the alarm is set, which would mean they would have to go in while the victims were in there. What about that, Joe Scott? Yeah, and this goes to the knowledge of how this business and this family operates. That's my contention. I think that there's some level of familiarity with the comings and goings of these individuals that own the Hawk family, that own this facility. I think that these individuals had certainly been there before. I don't know if they were ever customers, but they had an awareness of what their routine is. And you start to get toward the end of the day, folks are going to start to wind things down.

Maybe it's at this point in time that, James had mentioned earlier about securing weapons. And many times in shops like this, if they do have a safe, a large indwelling safe in a facility like this, that safe is opened at that point in time, then you start taking things off of the wall, for instance. You start taking things out of the case and you put them

back in the safe. You know, wouldn't that be an opportune moment in time when somebody is distracted by that work to have their back turned just for an instant where somebody could come in and take control of this environment and re-kill in there? I think it's too much of a coincidence that they come at 530 just at closing time. Whoever did this knew they were closing up, knew they may be turning on an alarm. I'm also curious as to where the DVR was. Was it in plain view or did the perp have to know where to look to find the DVR that was storing the video surveillance. Guys, it's not the first time a business has been broken into, armed robbed, the armed robbers willing to kill.

Take a listen to our cut 15, Pixie Levin. 20 years ago, 4012 was the site of Wendy's, the place where Nazario's brother Ramon and six co-workers were shot execution style in a basement freezer. Me and him were very close. During a robbery planned by former assistant manager John Taylor. Taylor and accomplice Craig Godino took the E-train to Jackson Heights and the 7 to Main Street. John Taylor blamed the shootings on Godino. I would like to take a polygraph. I'd take it right now,

because I know I did not shoot any of those victims in there. But survivor Jaquan Johnson, just 18 then, recovered from partial paralysis to testify against Taylor. Johnson saw what happened with his right eye. I still think about my friends all the time, and I got to live with that for the rest of my life. All the employees at that Wendy's murdered. For what? The money in the register? As you heard there, so often the perp when a store is it's familiar with the store.

Everybody jump in. I'm seeing more than one perp and that they were familiar with the store. Now, interesting, people come from all around to shoot at this range. Take a listen to our cut eight, XIA 11. Chief Whitlock says he considered the Hawks as dear friends. It's really hard. It's really hard to come in here and accept it. I can't say accept. Just come in and see what's going on.

It's just, it's an awful thing for this town right here. Police say 40 guns were stolen and so was the DVR that held the security footage. The chief says this makes solving the crime that much harder. The store's been here for a long time. The range has been here for a long time. And there's people from all around come shoot here. I mean, it's just not people from Grantville. Not people from Grantville, but locals are questioning if the perps were known to the victims.

Take a listen to Hour Cut 1 WSB. Like many people in this community, a lot of neighbors are starting to ask questions, especially since this range sits so far off the road from this Rydzy area. You can see that road in our vantage point. You can see how far the range sits back from that road. Many neighbors are starting to wonder if this crime, this murder, was premeditated. Friends say 75-year-old Tommy Hawk loved his community and loved running the lock, stock, and barrel shooting range in Grantville. It's dumbfounded that something like this happened.

Marion Cieslik says that in his 25 years living in Grantville, a crime like this has never happened. He's been to the range several times. The severity of it, you know, three deaths. They're just unheard of here. It's not like something that stands out. Some criminals had to have been looking for that place, I would think. Justin Carter joining me, WSB TV. Describe how far off the road it is.

Why would someone have to either know about it or be looking for it? Nancy, that is what a lot of neighbors are wondering. This is not a business that is, you know, you can see from the road, from the naked eye, you really have to be looking for this building. I'd say it's maybe a few hundred yards from the main road, Bohannon Road, in Grantville. So, yes, you cannot see it from the road. If I was driving down Bohannon Road in Grantville, I would not be able to see it at all. James Shelnut joining us, not only 27 years on Metro Major Case, now lawyer, but had frequently been in the lock, stock and barrel. What's your analysis?

My analysis is exactly what Joe Scott said, exactly what one or two of the other witnesses said or other experts on the panel said. And that is that the people who went in there went in with a sense of boldness, a sense of boldness. This crime didn't happen in 60 seconds. As Joe Scott pointed out, if these people are in the same area, they were herded in there. I do believe that somebody watched them. Somebody assisted with getting the guns. You know, this is also, if you think about it, people come there to shoot. And although it was close to closing time, if someone showed up to shoot, they're going to be armed. If someone is in the back shooting, they're going to be armed. The owner was armed. This is someone familiar with what was going on. They were familiar with the surveillance system. They were familiar with the

guns, familiar with the owners. And this is someone who has a level of familiarity as Scott, as Joe Scott pointed out earlier, this is not a person who randomly came in that building and decided to rob it. This was coordinated and it was planned. There is a $25,000 reward. Tip line 888-283-8477. Goodbye. This is an iHeart Podcast.