Driver of SUV shot in Monroe parking lot, crashes into sedan

MONROE, Ga. - Police in Monroe are investigating a deadly shooting in the parking lot of an Arby’s which happened before a crash.

It happened around 7:50 p.m. Tuesday in the Monroe Crossings Shopping Center located along Spring Street just off U.S. 78. Monroe Police Chief Robert RV Watts says his officers swarmed the scene after two calls came from the area. The first was reporting a crash and the second was a report of a shooting.

Chief Watts says they know very little details, but investigators preliminarily believe the shooting happened in The Home Depot parking lot. The SUV, which the shooting victim was driving, then rolled through the nearby bank parking lot before striking the sedan leaving the Arby’s.

The driver of the sedan was rushed across the street to Piedmont Walton and has since been released.

Chief Watts says the driver of the SUV was found with a gunshot wound to the head.

Initially, law enforcement officers from multiple agencies swarmed the area searching for a possible suspect, but it was not immediately clear if there was a shooter or if the wound was self-inflicted.

"Well, I can’t confirm or deny how the victim succumbed to his inured, as far as if it was the result of somebody else or the individual themselves," the chief said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has been asked to assist in processing the forensic evidence at the scene and to perform the autopsy of the shooting victim as well as to identify them.

"We are hearing all kinds of different stories of what happened after this, so I don’t want to speculate on this at this time," the chief added.

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol were also on the scene assisting.

The name of the victim has not been released.

Anyone with information should contact the Monroe Police Department.