A 9-year-old girl was found dead Tuesday night in the back seat of a vehicle at Brooklet Park from an apparent gunshot wound and her father was found dead in the front seat of the same vehicle from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a release Wednesday morning from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The release stated that at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, law enforcement officers with the Brooklet Police Department and the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call reporting an unresponsive child locked in a vehicle at Brooklet Park.
The Brooklet PD then requested the GBI to assist with a death investigation.
“Upon arrival, law enforcement officers made entry into the vehicle and found a child dead in the backseat with an apparent gunshot wound,” the GBI release stated. “A man was found dead in the front seat from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was found on his lap.”
According to the release, the father was identified as James Lee Mayo, 37 and the child was identified as his 9-year-old daughter Emily Grace Mayo.
The bodies will be taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in Pooler for autopsies.
No other information on the incident was released. The investigation is active and ongoing, the GBI said.
Tuesday night, a call went out over the Bulloch County 911 Emergency Band about a 9-year-old girl being unresponsive in a vehicle in Brooklet Park, off Cromley Road.
The Bulloch County Sheriff's Office posted the following statement at about 9:55 p.m. on their Facebook Page:
"The Sheriff’s Office is assisting the Brooklet Police Department with an investigation in the City of Brooklet. Sheriff Brown wants to advise citizens that there is no danger to the public and the investigation will be ongoing into the night."
With multiple law enforcement vehicles at the scene, including Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, GBI and Brooklet PD, at the park, the park was taped off with "Police Line" tape.
All law enforcement vehicles had left the park by midnight and an unidentified GBI agent at the scene said no statement about the incident would be released until Wednesday morning.
The Herald will post any further information as it becomes available.
