Hampton neighborhood trying to make sense of weekend rampage that left 4 dead

HAMPTON, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News is learning more about the four victims who were killed in a mass shooting over the weekend in Hampton.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes went back out to the neighborhood on Monday where she got a chance to speak to relatives of almost all the victims.

Fernandes learned all of the victims were part of the same lake community and many had lived there for decades.

Betty Alders recalled how scary Saturday’s lockdown was. Police flooded her Hampton subdivision after they say one of her neighbors, Andre Longmore, shot and killed four people.

[PHOTOS: Suspect accused of killing 4 dead after manhunt, 2 officers and deputy injured]

“We had to stay in our house with the doors locked,” Alders said.

Alder’s next door neighbor of 25 years, Steve Blizzard, was one of those victims. She said he was quiet but was always there when she needed him.

“He’d walk over and talk to my son when he was with me. But he was just, you know, a real good man. Just stayed to himself. Worked every day,” Alders said.

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Two of the other victims, Scott and Shirley Leavitt, lived just a few houses up the street. One of their direct neighbors told Fernandes that they were nice people who didn’t deserve this.

The fourth victim, Ron Jeffers, lived next door to the alleged killer. Jeffers’ family didn’t want to say anything on camera on Monday but said he was a good man.

Neighbors passed out flyers inviting everyone to a candlelight vigil to remember the four victims on Monday.

As the neighborhood works through its grief, the alleged shooter’s mother, Lorna Dennis, is apologetic to everyone who is suffering.

“It’s hard to lose your son and hard to know your son caused the life of so many people, and you know, I think about family even more than I think about my son,” Dennis said.

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