Man, 78, found shot to death inside home on Central Avenue

A 78-year-old man was found shot to death inside his home on Central Avenue on Thursday morning, according to police.

George Garth was found with a single gunshot wound to the chest at 1927 Central Avenue, police said. He'd owned the home since 2000, property records show.

Investigators do not have a suspect. Police did not immediately say who discovered Garth's body or when the man may have been killed.

Garth is the oldest person to be killed in Chattanooga so far this year. In March, another man in his 70s, Orlandus Metcalfe, 71, was shot to death while he was lying in bed inside his home. In that case, the shooter used a high-powered rifle and opened fire from the street.

The average age of Chattanooga's homicide victims this year is 28; the youngest victim was 17.

There have been 27 homicides in Chattanooga so far in 2016. There were 30 homicides in the city in all of 2015, and 27 in all of 2014.

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