Update: Toccoa Police, GBI Investigating Shooting Death In Toccoa This Morning

As reported earlier today by WNEG News, the Toccoa City Police Department is investigating a fatal shooting early this morning in Toccoa.

According to a press release issued by Police Chief Jimmy Mize this afternoon, at approximately 4:50 a.m. this morning, March 5, the Toccoa Police Department was dispatched to Ruby Street in reference to a report of a physical domestic incident. 

WNEG News spoke this afternoon with Lt. Hamp Cross with the Toccoa PD Crime Investigation Division, or CID, who said that the call to 911 was a off-the-hook call, where a call to 911 was placed, and the line was left open, but no one was on the phone or responding to dispatch. Voices were heard, and a mention was made of someone being struck, Cross said.

According to the press release issued by Mize, upon arrival at the scene, officers made contact with a female later identified as Ieshia Chantavia Thornton, 33, of Toccoa, who was sitting in a vehicle in the driveway, along with Christopher Howell, 33, of Toccoa. Howell was later identified as a witness. 

After making entry into the residence, officers discovered an unresponsive male subject. The male was later identified as Eric King, 51, of Toccoa. King was pronounced dead on the scene.

The Toccoa Police Department contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist with the crime scene and interviews, a practice Cross said is standard in cases such as this one.

Thornton was arrested and charged with malice murder and was transported to Stephens County Jail, where she was turned over to jail staff.

King’s body was released to the coroner to be transported to the crime lab for an autopsy.

Cross confirmed that there was a relationship between Thornton and King, and said he believed the two share a child. He said that there have been no previous domestic violence calls responded to by the TPD at the Ruby Street address, which was King’s residence; Thornton did not reside at the residence, Cross said. 

Cross added that the gun involved in the shooting has been recovered, and there is no ongoing danger to the public in relation to the shooting.