By Joe Johnson
Athens-Clarke County police are investigating the shooting of a man early this morning at a southside Athens apartment complex.
According to a police incident report, officers responded shortly after 1 a.m. to The Park at Athens: Lakeside Apartments on a report that a man had been shot in the stomach and was lying inside his apartment.
Responding officers found 39-year-old Christopher Thomas Lord lying on the floor near his bedroom, wearing only pants and with a gunshot wound to his lower left abdomen, according to the report.
They reportedly saw another injury to his back, which possibly was the bullet's exit wound.
According to the report, Lord said he did not know who shot him, and that the incident occurred while he was walking his dog. After being shot, he returned to his apartment in an attempt to put the dog back in its cage and collapsed. He was transported with non-life-threatening injuries to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center
One of the first officers to respond reportedly saw a male wearing a dark green or brown shirt running from the incident scene.
According to the police report, officers located a pool of blood near a column behind Building F, where the victim lived, and nearby was a bullet near a fresh gash in the column; a 9mm bullet cartridge casing was located in the grass about 15 yards away.
While canvassing the complex, an officer made contact with a woman who lived in the apartment next to where the cartridge casing was located.
“She reported that she heard two gunshots, followed by a lot of yelling,” according to the police report. “She stated that she could only distinguish two different voices. This yelling was followed by two more quick succession shots. After this she states that the neighborhood went quiet.”
Police asked for anyone with information concrning this incident to contact Detective Paul Johnson at (762) 400-7060