Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020

News 12 at 6 O'Clock/NBC at 7

HEPHZIBAH, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- The Richmond County Sheriff's Office says a wife is being charged with the murder of her 75-year-old husband in Hephzibah.

Freda Eugenia Drake, 71, is charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and will be booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center

The sheriff's office says the shooting happened on the 3800 block of Wendell Street around 6:25 a.m.

The sheriff's office says the couple was involved in a dispute, and the wife shot James Christopher Drake with a handgun.

Reporter Sydney Heiberger WRDW is live on Wendell Street in Hephzibah at the scene of a deadly shooting. Posted by News 12 NBC 26 on Thursday, January 9, 2020

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said James was shot once only in the head and was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m.

The case is being ruled a homicide.

Meanwile, the neighborhood is used to hearing gunshots, but neighbors say this time was different.

"I ain't hear no gunshots at all," one neighbor said. "I wish I did. I would have come outside. But I didn't hear nothing at all."

Keontae Alston and Darian Hill say when they came outside Thursday morning, the Drake's grandson told them his grandfather has been killed.

"When I heard this, when I came outside and heard what happened, it was sad to hear because these folks is nice people," one of the neighbors said.

To make matters worse, families were heading to school.

"You got school buses coming around here, you got mama's taking their kids to school, you got pops out here," one neighbor said. "It's sad to hear that. It's sad to see to be honest."