NEWTON COUNTY – The suspected shooter in an early Friday morning shooting spree that killed two and injured a third has died.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) confirmed to The Covington News that 24-year-old Dwayne Eduh of Covington passed away from his injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

The NCSO said that Eduh, an employee at the Walmart on Salem Road, entered the store with a firearm just after 1:30 a.m. and fatally shot 21-year-old Khalaf Barksdale of Conyers. He then reportedly shot 29-year-old Ryan Bradley of Covington a short time later.

Bradley was rushed to a local hospital where he remains in stable condition.

After the first shooting, deputies say that Eduh traveled to a residence on Emerson Trail about two miles from the store. At the residence, he forced entry and  allegedly shot and killed 19-year-old Akeela Clarke of Covington in front of her relatives.

Eduh then fled down I-20 into South Carolina where he entered into a “brief standoff” with deputies with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). Eduh then shot himself, leading to his hospitalization in Augusta and eventual death. It is not clear where the gunshot wound was located.

While the death toll of this shooting spree has risen to three, several questions remain about the incident.

It was not made immediately clear the relationship between all four involved other than all being employees at the Walmart and being labeled by the NCSO as “acquaintances.”

“We don't know [the] motive at this time,” NCSO Sgt. Jack Redlinger said Friday during a press conference. “All I know is that they were acquaintances and they all worked here at Walmart.”

The NCSO is continuing to label the incident as an active investigation.