Snellville man opens fire on Highway 365, leaves 2 injured

PHOTO: A trail camera in the vicinity of Tribble Gap Road captured this image of Harbour Friday morning. While the time stamp on the image says 10:39 a.m., Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch thinks the time was 11:39 a.m. and the camera not been re-set for daylight saving time. Couch based his information on images of his deputies caught on camera during the investigation. (Photo from Hall County Sheriff’s Office)

HALL COUNTY — A random act of violence in Hall County occurred Friday and left two victims seeking medical treatment for their sustained gunshot wounds.

According to the Hall County Sheriff’s office, a 72-year-old man was shot in the hip and a 54-year-old man was shot in the leg.

At a Saturday morning press conference, Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch identified the main suspect responsible for the inflicted gunshots as Rex Whitmire Harbour, 26, of Snellville.

According to Couch, Harbour had no known connections to Hall County and any reasoning behind why he opened fire on motorists on Georgia 365.

After the first call was made to dispatch on Friday at 11:48 a.m. where a motorist advised law enforcement that her husband had been shot and they were traveling northbound [on Ga. 365] near Tribble Gap Road — additional calls began flooding in where people said they could hear audible gunshots.

Law enforcement arrived and set up a perimeter according to Couch.

Hall County Sheriff’s deputies observed a 2003 beige in color Buick Century pulling out of a wooded area near Tribble Gap Road which turned out to be Harbour.

“A brief chase ensued before the driver pulled out a handgun and shot himself in the head,” Couch said. “The vehicle traveled out of control down the roadway and into a grass median where it finally came to a stop just north of Whitehall Road.”

Harbour was taken to Grady Hospital in Atlanta for treatment for his “critical” injury, but as of 5:30 p.m. he was pronounced dead according to information released from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.

An investigation is underway to further determine the cause of the shooting but according to Couch, investigators have already found “disturbing documents” in Harbour’s Snellville home, which claim to praise the Parkland, Florida shooter Nicholas Cruz.

Couch asks for anyone who might have helpful information regarding this incident to call Hall County Dispatch at 770-536-8812.