1 employee dead, 1 injured after shootout at Forsyth County business

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A shootout at a north Georgia business Wednesday morning left a man dead and the other now facing a murder charge.

The shooting happened in an industrial park off Pendley Road south of Cumming in Forsyth County.

Stacie Miller, spokesperson for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, said two men got into a fight and shot each other in the back parking lot of a business. Miller said the two men, were temporary employees for Ernie Morris Enterprises, an office and school furniture dealer.

The two men were later identified as 23-year-old Hamilton Samuel Darwin who died on the scene and 20-year-old Ja’Mychael Peavy who is still in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. Officials say they have issued a warrant for Peavy’s arrest and additional charges are pending.

“We have interviewed all the witnesses so we’re putting their statements together, we’re waiting on the condition of the other person to see if we can interview him and we’ll see if there are any charges,” said Miller.

She said deputies responded within four minutes of the 911 call coming in at 7:40 Wednesday.

“We usually don’t have shootings in Forsyth County,” said Miller. “However we’re not immune to it, obviously, but sometimes shootings and homicides are just emotionally charged, so this is a fight that started before a shooting.”

“We’re all neighbors, we all know each other, so it was quite a shock,” said Penny Perlock, who works at a nearby business in the complex. “You just can’t imagine something like that happening to your coworkers.”

The investigation continues.

Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.