Man accused of killing ex-wife shoots himself

An Acworth man accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife and seriously wounding her mother died Monday after turning a gun on himself outside a Paulding County store, authorities said.

Cherokee County sheriff ’s deputies responded to a home on Autumn Brook Drive in Canton just before 9:45 p.m. Sunday. They found Christopher Parrish Thomas II’S ex-wife, 30-year-old Victoria Thomas, dead from a gunshot wound in her mother’s house.

Her mother, 68-year-old Myrna Garcia, also was shot as she held her 4-month-old grandchild. The baby was uninjured, but Garcia was taken to a hospital and remained in critical condition Tuesday.

A 10-year-old child also was inside the home at the time but was not injured.

Christopher Thomas, 30, fled before deputies arrived and was on the run until he was found at a Walmart in Dallas shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. He was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Thomas had been arrested Dec. 30 in Cobb County and charged with aggravated assault strangulation and battery of a pregnant person after allegedly choking Victoria Thomas, his wife at the time. She subsequently divorced him and moved in with her mother, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Garcia is a pillar of the Latin American community and has worked for various organizations, including the Latin American Association in Georgia.

The group’s CEO, Santiago Marquez, has known Garcia for close to 20 years. He called her a positive person and motivated, always looking for opportunities to help the community.