HAWKINSVILLE, Ga. — A Hawkinsville man is in critical condition after being shot four times inside his home. That's according to Pulaski County Sheriff's Office Investigator Fred Yates.
Yates said that 68-year-old James Cheek was shot four times inside of his home by James Ian Spires. He’s still on the run and the GBI are looking for him.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha says folks are shocked after hearing that their neighbor was attacked.
"They had the house and yard all roped off and the GBI was all over there,” says Charles Hammonds.
Hammonds lives two doors down from Cheek. He says he came home to a big commotion.
"I really didn't know what was going on. I came home and they said that Mr. Jimmy had been shot.”
Hammonds says he's known Cheek his whole life. He says he was shocked because Cheek has always been kind to folks.
"I think just about everybody in Hawkinsville knows him. I wouldn't know why anybody would want to shoot him, you know, so. Hawkinsville is a nice neighborhood and you hardly ever hear that,” he explains.
James Williams says they both worked under Cheek's father as plumbers.
“I've known him for over 14 years,” Williams says. “We all got along good. He wasn't no bother for anyone,” he says.
Williams says he lives around the corner from Commerce Street, where the shooting happened. He says he heard about it Wednesday evening.
"It kind of makes me feel bad because who would want to shoot him?"
Williams says everybody these days has a gun. However, Hammonds says this shooting doesn't worry him.
"I'm not really scared because it hardly happens, maybe like once in 10 years or something,” Hammonds says.
We spoke to a few folks about the 24-year-old suspect, James Ian Spires. They said Spires is a nice guy, and they're surprised he would do this.
Cheeks is listed in critical condition at Atrium Health Navicent. The Pulaski Sheriff's Office says Spires is already wanted on warrants in Bleckley and Bibb counties.