Four dead, one injured in Rockmart shootings
Four people in Rockmart were killed and another was taken by helicopter to an Atlanta-area hospital following multiple shootings Thursday evening.
Polk County Coroner Tony Brazier said that he believed the time of death for the four individuals who have not yet been identified is at around 8 p.m. on Thursday night at two different scenes close to one another in an area around Williamson Street in Rockmart.
A fifth victim in the incidents was taken to Atlanta in an airlift to Atlanta Medical Center for emergency treatment. No update on that victim’s condition was immediately available at press time late Thursday evening.
Officials found a scene of death at a home in an alleyway between West Church and Martin Luther King Jr. Streets, where two of the four bodies were found.
Around the same time, a second shooting was reported at an address on Short Rome Street between MLK Jr. and Polk Streets, where the second pair of bodies was found.
No identification was yet available at press time on any of the victims found by police officials on Thursday evening.
Rockmart Police Chief Keith Sorrells said in a brief phone interview Thursday evening that the situation was still developing and more information was expected today.
Officers from several local departments along with the Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were being called in, and were on the scene through the late evening hours.
Police quickly cordoned off the area around the Williamson Street corridor while investigators canvassed for clues and witnesses, which at the time were slim.
Police are actively investigating and are currently seeking suspects, Sorrells said.
The pair of incidents took place less than a mile from historic downtown Rockmart.