The Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) held a press conference on Friday afternoon identifying the suspect and victims from the Friday morning attacks.
According to the NCSO, 21-year-old Khalaf Barksdale of Conyers was the first man killed inside the Walmart on Salem Road. Then 29-year-old Ryan Bradley of Covington was shot and injured. While it was originally believed Bradley was shot in the parking lot, the NCSO confirmed he was shot inside the actual store.
The third victim, who was shot in a residence on Emerson Trail, was confirmed by the NCSO to be 19-year-old Akeela Clarke of Covington.
Bradley was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. He is now listed as stable, according to the NCSO.
Barksdale and Clarke were pronounced deceased at each respective scene.
The suspected shooter is 24-year-old Dwayne Eduh of Covington.
Following the three attacks, Eduh fled east on I-20. The NCSO, assisted by the Georgia State Patrol, requested further assistance from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and South Carolina State Troopers.
According to a press release from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, they entered into a “brief standoff” with Eduh at 3:55 a.m., after which Eduh shot himself. No deputies were injured.
Eduh remains in critical condition at a hospital in Augusta. The NCSO was unable to say where Eduh administered the self-inflicted shot.
The NCSO also corrected a previous finding where it was believed that the first victim was shot and killed inside the Walmart and the second victim was shot and injured in the store’s parking lot.
All four people involved worked at the Salem Road Walmart.
Clarke’s family members were at the NCSO’s news conference. They alleged that it took authorities nearly half an hour to respond to their 911 call.
“So it took 29 minutes to leave from Walmart a mile away to go to 345 Emerson Trail, my house,” said Samantha Clarke, who lived with Akeela. “Twenty-nine minutes it took you guys to come to my house. It's actually 29 odd minutes because I called and my daughter called, she was on the phone for 29 minutes.”
NCSO Public Information Officer and Sergeant Jack Redlinger, who spoke at the conference, said the office’s response time would be looked into.
“We are not familiar with that, but we will check into that with 911 and find out exactly how many minutes,” Redlinger said.
The NCSO was unable to comment on the motive or the victims’ relationship with one another and their attackers, saying they can only confirm them to have been “acquaintances” as of now.
“We don't know [the] motive at this time,” Redlinger said. “All I know is that they were acquaintances and they all worked here at Walmart.”
What led to Eduh’s attacks remains unclear. The investigation remains active.
The Walmart on Salem Road is closed for the remainder of today.
The original reports associated with this story are located here.
