Breaking News: Hart Co. Authorities searching for Murder suspect, South Hart Elementary closed today

South Hart Elementary School is closed today out of safety concerns as authorities search for a murder suspect.

Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland  told the Hartwell Sun Monday night that Larrendrick Rashad Tabor is a person of interest in a shooting and stabbing that occurred Monday night between 8p and 8:30p.

Cleveland said it happened on Friendship Road where a man was shot and killed and a woman was stabbed.

The woman was taken to an area hospital and her condition is not known. Hart County deputies with assistance from the GBI are processing the scene.

Cleveland said the shooting Monday night is believed to be connected to the murder of 18-year old Mericus J. Scott of Royston last week in Anderson.

Anderson County Sheriff’s spokesman JT Foster told WNEG’s sister station WLHR News last week, deputies were called to a pond on Appleton Street on the Old Appleton Mill property on the morning of January 20 where they found a body floating in the water.

The Anderson County coroner later identified the victim as Scott.

Foster says Scott suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and the Anderson County Coroner ruled Scott’s death a homicide.

Monday night, the Hartwell Sun reported authorities tracked Tabor from the crime scene to an area near South Hart Elementary where tracking dogs lost him, and they believe he may still be in that area.

Out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made to close the school today.

At this time, authorities from Hart, Elbert, and Franklin County, along with assistance from the GBI and K-9 units are searching for Tabor in a 2.5-mile radius around Friendship Road and South Hart Elementary School.

WNEG News is following this story and will have more information as it becomes available.