Chilling Details In Killing That Shut Down Georgia Gwinnett College

In a shooting that shut down Georgia Gwinnett College’s campus for hours, police say a husband shot his wife 13 times, killing her over fears she was leaving him.

The Gwinnett Daily Post covered a preliminary hearing on the case in Gwinnett County Magistrate Court on Thursday.

Judge Jan McKinney found probable cause for the state to proceed with its case against Shelton John Soyer, 43, the paper reported.

According to testimony from police, on November 16, Soyer’s wife, Vanessa Regina Soyer, threatened to leave him and take their 13-year-old son. She had grown frustrated with Shelton Soyer’s claims she was seeing another man behind his back, testified Lawrenceville Police detective Scott Pendergrass.

“That’s when I snapped. That’s when the gunshots rang out. Brother, I can’t even tell you how many times I shot her,” the detective quoted Sheldon Soyor as saying.

A preliminary investigation showed she had been shot 13 time, Pendergrass said.

The detective testified that the couple’s son ran away and called 911 to the Greens at Hillcrest, an apartment complex that sits near the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College.

The shooting and subsequent search for Sheldon Soyer caused GGC to shut down its campus at about 11 a.m. Buildings remained closed for the rest of the day.

Students and staff were locked down in classrooms and common rooms for hours. More than 100 students were sheltered in the basement of the library before finally being given the all-clear.

According to the Daily Post report, police further testified that Soyer called his mother to apologize. The next morning, his brother called police to tell them his brother was at a Shell gas station on Sugarloaf Parkway and wanted to turn himself in.

When police arrived, he emerged with his hands up, lay on the pavement and repeatedly apologized to every police officer he met, Pendergrass testified.