A beloved Georgia grandfather and his family dog were both shot dead by a maniac in front of his wife while he was on the phone with his granddaughter during their weekly visit to the park.
Terry and Cheryle Loden were walking their dogs together at Simpson Park in Hall County, Georgia Sunday when Terry’s pooch, Jesse, got in a fight with a stranger’s dog around 3:30 pm as he was talking to his granddaughter on his cell phone.
Terry, 70, began trying to pull his dog back away from the dog when the other man, identified by the Hall County Sheriff’s office as Todd Alexander Stalcup, allegedly opened fire on the dog and then his owner with his handgun.
“He was on top of her pulling her off and about that time, the man just shot my dog, and Terry stood up and said, ‘Man what are you doing?’ And he just shot him,” Cheryle told Atlanta News First.
Cheryle called 911 and attempted to put pressure on Terry’s wound. Her granddaughter heard the entire attack.
“[Tery said] ‘Hang on, baby. Jesse, don’t mess with that dog,’ and she heard shots,” the grieving wife said.
The two men hadn’t even had a fight prior to the onslaught, and the entire event escalated rapidly, Cheryle told Atlanta News First.
“When he fell, I just said, ‘I gotta call 911. I gotta call 911.’ And [Stalcup] just said, ‘Yeah, you do that,’“ Cheryle said.
As Cheryle desperately sought to save her husband’s life, he uttered his final words of love to her and told her he wouldn’t make it.
He just looked up at me and said, ‘I love you.’ He said, ‘I’m going.’ I said, ‘No, you’re not,’ she told Atlanta News First.
Stalcup, 52, paced back and forth as the tragic scene unfolded, but then tried to make a break for it and drove off in his SUV.
Police arrested the alleged killer 15 minutes after the shooting while he was trying to flee the park, officials said.
He is charged with malice murder, felony murder, felony aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Terry died in at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, police officials said. The Loden family said the killing was “senseless and unprovoked” in a statment to Atlanta News First.
Cheryle remembered her dear husband as an “awesome person.”
“He was awesome. He’d give his last penny and do anything for anybody. He was an awesome person,” Cheryle said.
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