Gunshot kills Lee County man

LEESBURG, Ga. — Despite the best efforts of emergency responders at the scene, a man died after he was shot at about 9:30 p.m. Friday in Lee County, law enforcement officials confirmed.

Johnny Anthony Allen shot Robert Patton in front of a house at 519 Creekside Drive at Knollwood Drive, according to a family member, who spoke about the shooting Saturday but did not wish to be named.

The family member said there had been a domestic dispute at the house.

“One man was beating his girlfriend,” she said. She would not, however, say which of the men was doing the beating nor would she name the girlfriend.

Patton apparently suffered a gunshot to the chest and died at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital’s main location in Albany, officials said. Allen is in the Lee County Jail charged with the murder and aggravated assault, a jail official confirmed.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is treating the shooting as a death investigation and has turned it over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, as is standard procedure. No further information was immediately available.