From Paulding Co. Sheriff Office:
On Friday May 3, 2019 at approximately 8:47 AM Paulding Deputies and Hiram Police Officers responded to the Home Depot in Hiram, Georgia (145 Depot Drive Hiram, Georgia 30141) reference a shooting call that took place inside the store.
When Deputies and Officers responded to the scene, they quickly located the shooter and took him into custody and secured the scene. At this point neither the shooter nor the victim are being identified by Detectives. The victim was subsequently taken to an Atlanta area hospital with a gunshot wound to the torso.
As soon as they arrived, Detectives began speaking with the witnesses, Home Depot employees, as well as the victim and the shooter to try and determine what took place. As a result of their investigation Detectives learned that the incident began in the Garden Center of the store. It was determined that the victim and the shooter both knew each other because they are neighbors and that they have had disagreements in the past. They coincidently happened to see each other at The Home Depot Friday morning and that is when a verbal argument began.
The verbal argument escalated into a physical altercation which led to the eventual shooter being physically assaulted. As the confrontation escalated, they entered the store. As a result of the altercation and the fact that the shooter felt threatened, he discharged his pistol striking the victim in the torso. The victim was able to get to the Customer Service Center to have someone call 911. Both the shooter and the victim stayed on scene and have been cooperative with Detectives. Thus far, Detectives have not filed any charges in this case and the victim is considered to be in critical condition.
It must be noted that none of the parties involved worked at The Home Depot and were only there shopping. This is an open and active investigation and will continue into the coming days. At this point, we do not expect to have any updates before Monday May 6, 2019.