Georgia Briefly

Temperatures rise, so do A/C thefts

AUGUSTA (TNS) –As the heat wave continues to hit Augusta, so is a spate of air conditioner thefts.

Since July 8, at least three police reports have been filed about stolen window units.

“I think it’s safe to say these units aren’t being sold for scrap metal,” Richmond County Lt. Allan Rollins said. “It’s been an extremely hot summer and people seem to be doing whatever it takes to stay cool. It’s an unfortunate situation.”

The reported crimes have come from the 2700 block in Cardigan Court, 3900 block in Wrightsboro Road and 2200 block in Wheeless Road.

“Unless you put a cage around it, these units can be tough to secure,” Rollins said. “And I think it’s unrealistic to ask people to move their units inside every time they leave home. What if you have pets? I mean, people want to keep their house somewhat cool — no one wants to come home to a 100-degree home.”

Rollins suggested using more bolts to better secure window units.

Joy Lynn Bursley, an employee at Advanced Air Technology, stressed the importance of using bolts and cages.

Divorce talk may have prompted man to kill wife, 2 boys

ATLANTA (TNS) — With their spiky hair, small eyeglasses and toothy smiles, it wasn’t hard to tell Jacob and Jared Smith were brothers, just one year apart in age. They even behaved alike.

“They were sweet little boys, very polite,” family member Justin Lankford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The best little boys in the world.”

As they slept in their beds early Wednesday, their step-father shot and killed them both before shooting their mother, grandfather and then himself inside the family’s Forsyth County home. When deputies arrived, Jacob, 9, and Jared, 8, were dead, along with the shooter, Matthew Kyle Fields.

The boys’ mother, Rebecca Manning, had been shot, too, but managed to crawl onto the front porch, where she was screaming as deputies arrived. She died after being taken to the hospital. Manning’s father, Jerry, was also shot multiple times and underwent surgery at North Fulton Hospital, where he remained in critical condition Thursday, Lankford said.

Lankford was first cousins with Rebecca, who went by Becky. His phone started ringing nonstop Wednesday morning, callers telling him to turn on the news. He did, and that’s when he saw his uncle’s white house.

“Everything just stopped,” Lankford said Thursday.

Becky wanted to divorce Fields, Lankford said, adding that may have been what caused Fields to snap early Wednesday. But it was a selfish act that Lankford said family members are struggling to understand.

“If you want to do something like that, go shoot yourself, don’t take others with you,” Lankford said. “He took the kids and everybody.”

Fields left the Old Alabama Road home where he lived with Manning, her father and sons late Tuesday night after he and his estranged wife had argued, according to deputies. But shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday, he returned to the house with a gun, shooting everyone in the home.

Man killed on front porch in Conyers

CONYERS (TNS) — One man is dead and another is being sought by police after an early morning shooting in Rockdale County that investigators believe followed a night of drinking.

Conyers police told Channel 2 Action News the victim was shot in the back of the head on his front porch at the Arbor Creek Apartment Homes on South Main Street.

The victim, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. A gun was found beside his body.

“In canvassing the area, we had neighbors tell us that there had been two gentlemen, the deceased and another gentleman, drinking throughout the night,” Conyers police Capt. Jackie Dunn told Channel 2. “They became louder and louder as they got into an argument. Some neighbors heard what they thought was a gunshot.”

Police have not released a motive for the shooting.