A man was shot dead while he was taking his morning walk through a Georgia park, according to police.
LaGrange Police Department (LPD) officers were alerted to reports that a person had been shot at the Sunny Point Park at West Point Lake, southwest of Atlanta, at about 8 a.m. on August 28.
When officers arrived, they found that Kenneth Stanley Dial, 69, had been shot and he was later confirmed to have died at the park.
The Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings across the U.S., says there were 47 reported firearm-related deaths in Georgia between August 1 and August 29 this year. The same database also found that Monday's fatal shooting was the first reported in LaGrange this month.
Evidence gathered during the investigation showed Dial was on his routine walk, which took him about a mile away from his home, according to NBC affiliate 11Alive.
LPD's Major Dale Strickland told the network: "As do several people they go in that area and walk around. The person who actually located him was an acquaintance of him. Often walked at the same time."
The acquaintance phoned police, and other people in the area had reported hearing gunshots at about 7:30 a.m.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, LaGrange police said an arrest had been made in connection with the death.
"Police arrested Billy Joe Tyler III and charged him with the murder of Kenneth Dial. Tyler was located on Park Avenue and arrested.
"He was transported to the LaGrange Police Department and later the Troup Jail. The investigation determined that Tyler attempted to rob the victim before shooting him and fleeing the area," it said.
Tyler was on active felony probation for a robbery that had happened in the Metro Atlanta area.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 1,206 reported homicides in Georgia in 2021. This represents a homicide death rate of 11.4 per every 100,000 people in the state. The CDC also reported there were 26,031 reported homicides across the country that year and that 20,958 involved firearms.
The Sunny Point Park is located west of LaGrange and has year-round boat-launching facilities in addition to numerous picnic sites and access for bank fishing, according to government information.
As its name suggests, the park is known for its lake and extends along the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia state line.
Anyone with any information about the shooting has been asked to contact the LaGrange police at 706-883-2603 or Troup County Crime Stoppers at 706-812-1000.
Update 8/30/23, 10:37 a.m. EDT: This article was updated with comment from LaGrange police.
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