Toccoa Woman Charged in Tuesday Shooting Death

By Jessica Waters, WNEG Radio

A Toccoa woman is charged with murder in the death of a Toccoa man early Tuesday morning.

Toccoa Police Chief Jimmy Mize said it happened in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

He said the call began as a reported domestic altercation with a victim who had been hit in the head.

According to Lt. Hamp Cross with the Toccoa PD Crime Investigation Division said later that a call to 911 was an off-the-hook call, where a call to 911 was placed, and the line was left open, but no one was on the phone or responding to dispatch.

Voices were heard, and a mention was made of someone being struck, Cross said.

According to the press release issued by Mize later, officers were dispatched to a home on Ruby Street where they made contact with a female later identified as Leshia Chantavia Thornton, 33, of Toccoa, who was sitting in a vehicle in the driveway, along with Christopher Howell, 33, of Toccoa.

Howell was later identified as a witness.

When officers went inside the home, they discovered an unresponsive male subject.

The man was later identified as Eric King, 51, of Toccoa who was pronounced dead on the scene.

Thornton was arrested and charged with malice murder and was taken to the Stephens County Jail.

King’s body was released to the coroner to be transported to the crime lab for an autopsy.

Investigator Cross confirmed that there was a relationship between Thornton and King, and said he believed the two share a child.

Cross added that the gun involved in the shooting has been recovered, and there is no ongoing danger to the public.