Domestic Violence Results In Murder-Suicide Case In Jasper County
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that 41-year-old Kira Ammons of Monticello, Jasper County, is the murder victim shot by her boyfriend, who apparently later committed suicide when local law enforcement attempted to take him into custody around 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
According to witnesses to the murder, 38-year-old David Mathis of Eatonton, Putnam County, fatally shot Kira at her residence and fled to his mobile home. Upon receiving reports of the felony, Jasper County Sheriff immediately initiated a cross-jurisdictional attempt to apprehend the suspect by alerting the neighboring Putnam County Sheriff Department.
Swinging into action, Putnam County Deputies arrived at the suspect’s mobile home in Eatonton but met resistance. Mathis shot at the police with a Hi-Point .380 carbine rifle, but law enforcement officers at the scene reported that they did not engage the barricaded gunman in a shootout. Recognizing a high-risk arrest, the deputies set up a perimeter around the residence. Attempts to contact and negotiate a surrender with Mathis went unheeded, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
“He greeted them with gunfire,” said Sills.
After the gunfire, deputies found Mathis dead in what apparently was a gunshot inflicted wound with his rifle, according to police reports. While the suspect did not hit any officer, he did manage to hit a Putnam County patrol car – officers did not make this discovery until later during an evaluation of the crime scene.
The case appears to be one of domestic violence.