Within minutes after he is accused of shooting Kevin Franklin, Vernon Ronald Bennett was apprehended by a Fannin County deputy sheriff.
Corporal Dustin Carder spotted the vehicle Bennett was driving heading into Blue Ridge on Ada Street from the scene of the shooting.
Carder performed a traffic stop and took Bennett, 48, of 23 Orchard Boulevard, Blue Ridge, into custody, Sheriff Dane Kirby said.
Bennett was subsequently charged with aggravated assault in connection with the shooting and murder in connection with a shooting that occurred a short time earlier. The victim in that shooting was Bennett’s girlfriend, Jennifer Layman.
Both shootings took place Wednesday, March 9, between noon and 2 p.m., according to warrants sworn out against Bennett by Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Kelly Aldrich.
Kirby said Bennett is believed to have shot Layman first, then traveled to Franklin’s place of business where he shot Franklin.
According to a statement from Brian Whidby, assistant special agent in charge of the GBI’s Cleveland office, the situation began unfolding when the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a person shot on Loud Lane in Blue Ridge.
The location proved to be Franklin’s business, Franklin’s Taxidermy, just off Ada Street.
Kirby said a lookout was posted for a silver Smart Car, which belonged to Layman, Bennett was driving. That lookout led to Carder catching the suspect.
After Bennett was taken into custody, deputies from the sheriff’s office and officers from the Blue Ridge Police Department went to Bennett’s address on Orchard Boulevard where they found Layman deceased, Whidby’s statement said.
The murder warrant against Bennett accuses him of shooting Layman “in the head with a shotgun in their home.”
The aggravated assault warrant accuses Bennett of shooting Franklin with a shotgun with intent to murder.
Franklin is expected to survive his injuries, the GBI statement said.
Bennett is being held without bond in the Fannin County Adult Detention Center.