Deputies on Tuesday identified the parents who were killed over the weekend in a murder-suicide inside a Hall County home, where their 9-year-old daughter called a friend after witnessing the gunfire, authorities said.
Hall deputies responded at about 3 p.m. Saturday to the 5400 block of Bushnell Court after the girl’s friend told her parents, who then contacted law enforcement, according to the sheriff’s office.
The quiet neighborhood is near Spout Springs and Union Church roads.
When deputies arrived, they found 50-year-old Mallory Jane Whitaker dead “at the threshold of the residence” and located the body of the gunman, Adrian Gabriele Alexander, in the basement, the sheriff’s office said. Whitaker had been shot several times, while Alexander, 51, died from a single self-inflected gunshot, deputies said.
According to investigators, they were the parents of the girl who was found by law enforcement hiding in an upstairs bedroom closet after she reached out to her friend via FaceTime.
“The friend told her parents about the call,” deputies said. “The parents in turn called 911.”
On Tuesday, sheriff’s office spokesperson B.J. Williams said the nature of Whitaker’s and Alexander’s relationship was unclear. The child was unharmed during the shooting, deputies confirmed.
While investigators reached out to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services for help, the girl was released into the custody of a relative, the sheriff’s office said.
“The case remains open as investigators work to determine the circumstances that led to the shootings,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
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