Police search for gunman in deadly Gainesville CVS shooting

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - The hunt is on for a killer who took the life of a beloved businessman and philanthropist in Gainesville.

Scott Dixon, owner of Scott’s Downtown, sat with FOX 5 reporter George Franco at the very table where Thursday night Jack Hough and his wife had sat.

“I bid him good night and her good night, not in a million years imagining what would have happened next,” said Dixon.

He says about an hour after Hough left he got a phone call from a friend.

“They just told me that Jack had been shot and killed and I’m like he just left here, where did this happen,” said Dixon.

Gainesville Police said Hough was sitting in his car in the parking lot of the CVS on Park Hill Drive around 7:45 p.m. while his wife had gone into the drug store.

Investigators tell us a man, only partially seen on surveillance, shot the 73-year-old in an apparent robbery or carjacking attempt.

“Not sure if he shot through the window or he opened the door but Mr. Hough was seated in the seated position inside the vehicle when he was shot yes sir,” said Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish.

Parrish said forensic evidence including bullet slugs and hopefully the gunman’s DNA is being analyzed to help lead police to the killer.

At Luna’s restaurant, Jim Walker and other business associates and longtime friends of Jack Hough gathered at their table, bought in memory of a friend who passed.

“We’d like to know who did this first of all and we’d like to see justice is done,” said Walker.

He said Jack Hough had great success in establishing food courts at airports, colleges and malls and shared his good fortune.

“He was a giving person, I can’t tell you how many different charities he was involved in, he not only gave of his time, he gave of his money,” said Walters.

Now that giving person has been ripped away from loved ones, friends and many others.

“It happened to a guy that it should’ve never happened to. Jack was such a genuine guy and such a big part of this community,” said Dixon.

Anyone with information on the murder of Jack Hough is to contact the Gainesville Police Department.