Gunshot wound victim crashes into building causing fire on Boxwood Blvd. in Columbus
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A homicide investigation is underway after a man was shot while driving, which led to him crashing the vehicle, which then led to a fire at an apartment complex building on Boxwood Boulevard in Columbus.
The chaotic scene began around 9:54 P.M. on August 13th for reports of a shots fired and a truck crashed into an apartment at Village Square, located at 1441 Boxwood Boulevard. Both — the truck and the apartment — were on fire with the man trapped inside the truck.
Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan was called to the scene at 10:30 P.M. and pronounced the man deceased at 10:45 P.M. The man was later identified as 44-year-old Jerry Walton.
“Mr. Walton decided to take his girlfriend’s mothers truck and that is when the mother’s boyfriend pulled out a pistol and fired multiple times at the truck as Mr. Walton was driving away. Walton was driving down the hill in the parking area of the complex when the truck then crashed into and entirely in the apartment,” Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said. “That is when the apartment and truck started on fire.”
Nearly five hours after the original 911 call, a tow truck was able to pull the burnt truck out and the Coroner’s Office was able to remove the body of Walton for an external examination. “I believe, along with others on the scene, there is an entry wound on the right top side of the skull. The body is extremely charred beyond facial recognition, although we know it is Mr. Walton,” Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan added.
Walton was transported to the county morgue and will be going to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations in Decatur, Georgia for an autopsy.
This is the 26th homicide investigation this year, and the 5th for the month of August and it is only the 14th day into the month.
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