CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies have located the man they say shot and killed his ex-wife and shot her mother as she held their 4-month-old.
Christopher Thomas, 30, reportedly attempted to commit suicide near a Walmart in Dallas, Georgia just after 6 p.m., Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office officials said.
Thomas has been transported by ambulance to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound.
Around 9:45 p.m. Sunday near Autumn Brook Drive in Canton, deputies responded to a shooting call at the home and found two people shot inside.
Victoria Thomas, 30, died from her injuries.
CCSO officials said Thomas, 30, had been on the run ever since.
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Her mother, Myrna Garcia, was taken to the Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in critical condition.
Deputies said Garcia was holding her 4-month-old grandchild when she was shot.
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“Deputies arrived on the scene 3 minutes after being dispatched by Cherokee 911 but the suspect, Christopher Thomas, 30 years old of Acworth, had already fled the scene,” the sheriff’s office said.
A 10-year-old was also inside the home at the time of the shooting. Neither child was injured, but the infant was checked out at the hospital.
Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach was at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Monday afternoon, where Garcia remained in critical condition.
Gehlbach learned that Thomas is an Army veteran who was enlisted as late as December. A photo from his ex-wife’s Facebook page shows her with Thomas when he returned home from duty just before Christmas.
Friends of the family said he has much shorter hair than in photos released by police.
A neighbor said he heard shots around 9:49 p.m. Sunday Garcia’s home, where Victoria Thomas was staying with her two boys.
Court records from Cobb County show Thomas was arrested just before the New Year for strangling his then-wife, punching her in the face and sending her to the hospital while she was around eight months pregnant.
Victoria Thomas then divorced him and moved in with her mother.
Neighbors said they had no clue about the former couple’s violent past.
“We seen him a couple of times and he always waved. Super nice,” a neighbor said. “Never knew anything was going on.”
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