No bond or court hearing has been set for a Higdon, Ala., man charged in the fatal shooting over the weekend of a Walker County, Ga., man and the non-fatal shooting of a man from neighboring Jackson County.
DeKalb County authorities say 40-year-old Cody Lee Wade remains held without bond on murder charges this week leveled in the incident late Saturday that left 45-year-old Walker County resident Barry White dead and William Gilreath, a Jackson County resident, age unknown, with gunshot wounds.
DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said authorities received a phone call around 11 p.m. Saturday reporting there had been a shooting near Shiloh Community Church on County Road 155 in Higdon.
When deputies for DeKalb and Jackson counties, Fort Payne and Ider police and DeKalb County Drug Task Force members arrived on the scene, they found Wade with a gun and were told by Wade's mother that the incident started Saturday night when Wade and a woman friend got into a domestic dispute, Harris said.
The female friend called two other men, identified later as White and Gilreath, to give her a ride.
When White and Gilreath arrived, Wade attempted to get into the vehicle, too, Harris states. When Wade couldn't get in, White drove off and Wade began firing shots at the fleeing car, striking White and Gilreath. Their vehicle ran off the road into a ditch near the church.
White died on the scene and Gilreath was transported to an unnamed medical facility where his condition is unknown, DeKalb officials said.
It's the second body found near a DeKalb County church in the less than a week.
On Jan. 20, 54-year-old Pisgah resident Carmon Rush was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound behind the Ider Church of Christ in an incident that started in Jackson County.
That man's brother, 53-year-old R.C. Rush, had been found dead earlier in the day with his deer-hunting equipment in the 1500 block of County Road 290 in Jackson County after his killer, said by authorities to be Carmon Rush, had taken R.C. Rush's pickup truck and left the scene. The truck was found with Carmon Rush's body at the church on Alabama Highway 75.
Harris thanked local and neighboring agencies for their help in the investigation launched over the weekend.
"This is an unfortunate situation and our thoughts and prayers go out to these families," Harris said.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/ BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.