Crimesider
Crimesider
December 6, 2012 11:02 AM

Frank Louis Reeves, Ga. man in wheelchair, charged with murder, police say

By
Crimesider Staff
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Daily Blotter

Frank Louis Reeves is wheeled out of the courtroom after his first appearance Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012, in Macon Ga.

/ AP Photo/The Macon Telegraph, Woody Marshall
(CBS/AP) ATLANTA - Frank Louis Reeves, 73, is charged with murder after allegedly shooting 65-year-old Linda Hunnicutt after her car "made contact" with his motorized wheelchair at a Georgia gas station Tuesday, authorities say.

Hunnicutt reportedly pulled into the gas station in Macon shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday and stepped out of her Buick Lucerne when the man allegedly pulled a gun and fatally shot her, city police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said.

Hunnicutt had driven onto the gas pump bay when her car and Reeves' wheelchair made contact, police say.

According to police, Reeves shot Hunnicutt once in the chest with a .38-calibur handgun.

Reeves was arrested in the gas station parking lot and charged with felony murder, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The encounter between Hunnicutt and Reeves was so brief that many of the customers pumping gas were not immediately aware of what happened, city police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said.

Melissa Whisby, a former state corrections officer who was at the gas station at the time of the shooting, told The Associated Press that she initially thought Hunnicutt was having a seizure. She said no one heard the gunshot.

As some gathered around Hunnicutt and placed her on her back, that's when they noticed the blood on her chest. When someone asked who shot her, Reeves, who sat in his wheelchair, told them Hunnicutt had tried to hit him with her car, Whisby said.

Reeves made a brief appearance in Magistrate Court in Macon on Wednesday. He appeared in a wheelchair with his hands shackled, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A hearing was set for Dec. 19.


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