A Georgia prison inmate who shot and killed a kitchen worker and then committed suicide had a personal relationship with the woman, prison officials said.
GLENVILLE, Ga. — An inmate who shot and killed a kitchen worker at a Georgia prison and then committed suicide had a personal relationship with the woman, prison officials said Monday.
Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lori Benoit said in an emailed statement that the shooting at Smith State Correctional Facility early Sunday morning was an isolated incident and the investigation remains ongoing. The statement did not say how inmate Jaedrex Hart obtained the firearm.
The department previously said Hart shot and killed a staff member in the prison kitchen about 4:30 a.m. Sunday before killing himself. Benoit said Hart appeared to have left a suicide note.
Smith State Prison is a 1,500-inmate maximum security prison that holds offenders deemed violent or poses a flight risk.
Hart had been incarcerated since 2015 after being convicted in Carroll County of intentional homicide and aggravated assault, according to online prison records. His earliest scheduled release was 2043.
The slain kitchen worker, 24-year-old Orleon Shabea Grace of Statesboro, had been working at the prison since January, according to the Bureau of Prisons. She was employed by Aramark, a Philadelphia-based company that provides food services to prisons in Georgia and elsewhere.
