PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — An arrest has been made after a triple shooting that killed a man in Paulding County last Saturday, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators were called to the shooting at a home at the 1700 block of Crossroads Church Road in Rockmart, Georgia, just after 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 29. The home is down the road from Crossroads Memorial Church.
When deputies arrived, they said they found three men who had been shot and one of them was dead.
Investigators said it all began when a 38-year-old man was asleep in his car in the driveway -- that's when Troy Sparks, 34, and Brandon Stephens, 35, broke out the window of his vehicle and allegedly started hitting him with a "blunt object." Gunfire erupted as Stephens exchanged shots with the 38-year-old man, the sheriff's office said.
Investigators said the incident ended with the 38-year-old man shot while Stephens was fatally shot and Sparks as shot as well. The sheriff's office said the three men knew each other and that Sparks and Stephens had previous issues with the 38-year-old man.
Paulding County Sheriff's deputies and Georgia Bureau of Investigation's agents determined the 38-year-old man had shot back in self-defense. Investigators said Sparks was arrested and he faces murder and aggravated assault charges.
"Detectives and Agents want to make sure that the community is aware that this is an open and active investigation," the sheriff's office wrote in a news release.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Tip Line at (770) 443-3047 or send a message via the Paulding Sheriff mobile app.
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