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Second United States Mass Shooting On Friday: Five Dead In Appling, Georgia, Wayne Anthony Hawes Identified As Suspect

By Angela Woods
Published on: 19:03 PST, Apr 22, 2016

At least five people are dead after two shootings on Friday night in Appling, Georgia. Authorities have identified the suspect in both shootings as Wayne Anthony Hawes, 50. A brief manhunt ensued to locate Hawes. It is currently believed that Wayne Hawes took his own life after killing the victims by setting his house on fire and then shooting himself. Police are attempting to make a firm identification of the body found in the ashes of the home.

According to 11 Alive News, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office indicates that the shootings appear to be domestic in nature. The shootings took place in two locations: the 3000 block of Johnson Drive and the intersection of Washington Road and Johnson Drive.

Police say that they believe that the suspect went on a rampage after he learned that his wife was going to divorce him, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The wife was not a victim in the shootings, but some of the victims were members of her family. The identities of the victims have not yet been released to the public. Three were shot at the first location and two were shot at the second location. Four were pronounced dead on the scene and one died on the way to the hospital.

Appling is located 130 miles east of Atlanta and 20 miles northwest of Augusta.

The killings were the second set of United States mass murders of a domestic nature that occurred on Friday.

Earlier in the day eight members of the Rohden family of Pike County, Ohio were found shot execution style in four separate homes located in the area, according to Reuters. The victims included seven adults and one teenager. All of the victims had been shot in the head. As of yet, the killer (or killers) are unknown. Police have been canvassing the area and have questioned more than 30 people in an effort to identify the murderer(s).

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine updated the public on the status of the case at a news conference.

“We don’t know whether we’re talking about one individual, or two, or three or more.”

The Chillicothe Gazette wrote that it appeared that some of the victims might have been sleeping when they were shot. One of the victims was a young mother in bed with her four-day-old baby. The baby, along with other children in the home, survived the shootings.

A person of interest was detained in the case on Friday, but that person was one of the 30 interviewed overall in the case.

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said it did not appear that the community at large was in danger. He said in a press conference that the family appeared to have been targeted. It is not believed that this was a murder-suicide scenario, so authorities are operating on the assumption that the gunman is still at large. No possible motive has been identified and the identities of the specific victims have not been made public, other than to say that they were members of the Rhoden family. The family is said to be large and very well known in the community.

The first 911 call in relation to the shootings came in at 7:53 a.m. From there the investigation began to expand as police were made aware of other victims by members of the public.

Sheriff Reader commented on the case.

“We’re treating this as a mass murder. This is not something you prepare for.”

Pike County is roughly 70 miles away from Cincinnati.

Update: Tucson News has been able to obtain the identifications of the victims of the Appling, Georgia shootings and to confirm that Wayne Anthony Hawes is dead. He apparently died of a self-afflicted gunshot wound to the head. His body was found in his garage. The victims are identified as the following:

  • Roosevelt Burns, 75
  • Rheba Mae Dent, 85
  • Kelia Clark, 31
  • Lizzy Williams, 59
  • Shelly Williams, 62

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