Clayton News Daily

By Daniel Silliman

dsilliman@news-daily.com

The grounds keeper found him Wednesday morning: A young man shot twice in the chest and dumped next to a baseball field.

Clayton County Police responded to the 911 call reporting a dead-and-dumped body at about 10:30 a.m. The Alan Baker Field custodian had arrived to unlock the front gate and saw the body laying there at 2568 Gilbert Road, near the northern Clayton County line.

"Basically, the body was just lying on the wood line," Officer Sonja Sanchez said. "The body was actually in plain view. It didn't appear that it was lying there for a long time."

Police have not yet identified the corpse.

Sanchez said it is the body of a Hispanic male, aged somewhere between the mid-teens and early 20s. He is between five-feet, eight-inches and six-feet tall, Sanchez said.

He was wearing a white jacket, when police found him, and dark-colored jeans.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner has ruled the unidentified man's death was caused by the two gunshot wounds to the right side of his chest, and said it is a homicide case.

Clayton Police detectives were waiting for more information from the GBI and the crime scene investigators, Wednesday afternoon.

Detectives do not believe the man was killed on Gilbert Road. He was apparently brought to the wood line, next to the United Auto Worker's baseball field, and dumped there, Sanchez said. He was probably left there last night, since the body was visible to passing cars and people entering the ball field and was not reported until this morning.

The body was found off of Conley Road, about two miles from Interstate 75's Hapeville exit and about two miles from Interstate 285's Old Dixie Road exit.

Anyone with information about the unidentified man or about the shooting is asked to call Clayton County Police at (770) 477-3614.