Crime & Safety

ACC Police Search Ends with Suspect's Suicide

Suspect said to have killed a woman in Jefferson and then fled to Athens. He shot himself after police searched for him for hours.

Athens-Clarke County Police say that  a 42-year-old man suspected of murdering his estranged wife today in Jefferson fled to Athens, where he later shot and killed himself.

This morning, at about 10:30, Tyrone Appling drove a Silver Chevrolet Malibu into Athens and abandoned it on Spring Valley Road, near Ranick Road. Police say he was dropped off in the area of North Avenue and Martin Luther King (MLK) Avenue. They searched for him around town. 

Appling came to Athens because he has family and friends in the area. Police say he barricaded himself into a house off Rocksprings Road and shot himself there.

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