80-year-old grandfather killed after fired shots into his home

ATLANTA — Police found an 80-year-old man shot and killed in his own home after a drive-by shooting in southwest Atlanta.

Atlanta police were called around 4 a.m. to do a welfare check off Meadow Park Drive SW. When they arrived, officers found the home and a car outside riddled with bullets. Inside the home, they found the victim, 80-year-old Clarence Knox, dead.

Investigators said the shooting happened sometime between 9 and 10 p.m Thursday night. At least 20 shots were fired, according to police.

Knox’s family told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that they never thought they would lose him to violence.

The family thinks the killer was trying to send a message to a younger family member and that Knox wasn’t the intended target.

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Rochelle Thibodeaux said her father didn’t bother anyone, but someone kept bothering him, shooting bullets into his home two weeks ago.

“The first time they came and shot three bullets into the home,” Thibodeaux said. “He said if I would have been sitting on the couch, I would be dead. "

On Friday morning, Knox’s grandson, Devangalo Crawford, found him dead from gunshot wounds.

“I had come home from work and I found him in the living room,” Crawford said. “On the livingroom floor.”

Police found Knox’s home and cars riddled with bullets.

Family members believe the shooter or shooters were targeting the younger family member, who Knox had allowed to move in, but who was not at the home in the last month or so.

“And I think they were trying to send a message and that’s why my father got killed,” Thibodeaux said.

Knox’s family said he was active, loved working on his cars and that he helped everyone.

“People may say, ‘Well, your dad was 80.' He still had a lot of life in him. It’s not right,” Thibodeaux said.

Crawford said his grandfather saved his life.

“I moved in with him to look after him, and actually he has been kind of looking after me,” Crawford said.

Thibodeaux is just glad she told her father how much he meant to her a couple of days before he was killed.

“I told him I loved him, and he said he loved me,” Thibodeaux said.

Knox’s wife was out of town at the time of the shooting. Police and family want anyone with information about the shooting to come forward.

Family members said they tried to get Knox to move after the first shooting, but he refused and said he should be safe in his own home.

“I asked him when they shot the house last time, ‘Daddy, come live with one of your children,‘” Thibodeaux said. “He said, ‘It’s paid for. It’s my home. I gotta feel safe in my own home.' And now, look what we’re going through.”

They said they think police should have put more effort into finding the shooter after the first drive-by, and that if they had, Knox would still be alive. Thibodeaux said police came out after the first shooting, but they heard nothing else from them.

“Try to find the guys who did this,” Thibodeaux said.

The family is asking anyone with information to give police or them a call.

The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with Knox’s funeral expenses.

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