By Beth Alston

AMERICUS — An Americus resident shot and killed a man who refused to leave his property early Sunday evening.

Sumter County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Col. Eric Bryant told the Times-Recorder the incident occurred at 6:38 p.m. Sunday at 250 Edgewood Drive, in the Dixie Hills subdivision. He said George Ritch McCutchen, 77, of Cordele came onto the property of Bill and Vicki Brewer. McCutchen had been released recently from Crisp County Jail on a stalking charge.

Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith told the Times-Recorder that Bill Brewer ordered McCutchen to leave his yard and McCutchen failed to do so. He said Brewer fired a shot into the ground but McCutchen kept coming. He said Brewer then shot McCutchen in the leg and torso.

James Green, a Sumter County deputy coroner, told the Times-Recorder that a Georgia state trooper and a neighbor who is a nurse, rendered CPR and first aid to McCutchen but he bled out from the leg wound before EMS arrived. Green said the body had been sent to the State Crime Lab for autopsy.

Bill Brewer was taken into custody, and later released, according to the sheriff. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 3 Americus Office and the Sumter Sheriff’s Office are investigating.

GBI Special Agent in Charge, Terry Howard, told the Times-Recorder that no charges have yet been filed.