Sheriff: GA Shooter Fired at 12 People in 15-Minute Shooting Spree

The Bartow County Sheriff’s Office is releasing more details in Tuesday’s shooting rampage that left two people — including the shooter — dead and four injured.

According to Sheriff Clark Millsap, Bartow County 911 began receiving phone calls around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 12 about a man allegedly firing a gun at a home on Brent Circle.

Deputies and investigators with the sheriff’s office responded with rescue personnel to the home, which was around the same time dispatchers began receiving more calls about the shooter leaving the home and targeting others.

The 911 Center received more than 10 emergency calls giving information about the shooter and his locations and actions, Millsap said.

The shooter, later identified as Cartersville resident Austin Denzell Tyler, 20, fired a pistol at a total of 12 persons and pointed his gun at several others during his rampage, which Millsap said lasted between 12 and 15 minutes. During the shooting spree, the sheriff said Tyler drove to Milam Bridge Road in Euharlee where he tried to shoot two men.

One man, 18, suffered a minor graze wound and the other target was not injured.

The shooter also tried to carjack two vehicles before running “into a victim and his grandson on River Oaks Drive in Euharlee and taking their Ford Explorer Sport TRAC,” Millsap added.

Responding units in the area spotted the suspect in the SUV on Euharlee Road at Highway 113 in Cartersville and when they turned around to pursue Tyler, he allegedly traveled on the wrong side of the road and eventually hit a landscape trailer on Highway 113 at Burnt Hickory Road.

The Ford, which was disabled from the accident, burst into flames due to the impact. Responding deputies approached the fiery vehicle and when they noticed Tyler was injured, they removed him from the vehicle in an effort to perform first aid.

“Tyler had shot himself once in the head with his pistol prior to or after the accident and was pronounced dead at Cartersville Medical Center,” Millsap added.

Among the victims, 63-year-old Royce Randy Hobgood of Euharlee was killed at the home on Brent Circle during the initial incident.

The two other victims who were shot and critically wounded on Brent Circle are being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, the sheriff stated.

Additionally, the man who was grazed by the bullet is recovering with his family.

The sheriff said the names of these men will not be released at this time.

Investigators also discovered the pistol used by Tyler was reported stolen from a vehicle to the Euharlee Police Department in June 2014.

Detectives believe the incident stemmed from an argument between Tyler and one of the shooting victims on Brent Circle.

According to the sheriff’s office, Tyler had only one prior arrest in Bartow County: a 2013 incident related to family violence.

(Photo: a 2013 booking photo of Austin Denzell Tyler, 20 when he was arrested in relation to a family violence incident. Credit: Bartow County Jail)