DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities are investigating after a 74-year-old man was fatally shot Friday afternoon outside a DeKalb County home.
According to police, Melvin Cleveland was found outside his home on Kings Park Way.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones learned that Cleveland saw someone pushing a wheelbarrow on his yard. He went outside to ask the man what he was doing, and was shot.
The shooter ran away.
Cleveland’s caretaker heard the shot, came out and found him on the ground with a gunshot wound in the chest.
“We’re in shock and we don’t know what could have caused this,” said Kings Park Homeowner’s Association President Mike Young.
Neighbors said they are talking about organizing a neighborhood watch following the deadly incident.
Officers are focusing on the wheelbarrow the gunman left behind.
“Detectives are looking, trying to determine the location the wheelbarrow came from to see if possibly a theft took place at that location,” DeKalb County police Maj. Steve Fore said.
Police said no one got a good description of the shooter, but neighbors are confident he won’t be on the loose for long.
“I think they’re going to find him. A couple of people saw him,” Young said.
Police are asking anyone with information to give them a call.
Cox Media Group
