Off-duty correctional officer killed, GBI investigating

GUYTON, Ga. (WTOC) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating a Saturday morning homicide in Guyton.

Around 6 a.m. Saturday, the Guyton Police Department responded to the 300 block of Brogdon Road for reports of a possible shooting. Officials say one man was killed in the incident.

Guyton Police called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for assistance, and they are now the lead on the investigation.

According to the GBI, the victim, an off-duty correctional officer, has been identified as 54-year-old Anthony Best. He was shot in the driveway of his home.

Best was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. A GBI Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy in Pooler.

The GBI says this appears to be an isolated incident.

“This has been a shock to this neighborhood. We never had nothing like this to happen. We had no idea something like this would happen,” neighbor Robert Hunter said.

Hunter chalked up the shots at the time to hunters, until he walked outside.

“My heart dropped.”

Because more shocking than where it happened, was who it happened to.

“That’s what got everybody. It’s just mindboggling because knowing him we just can’t understand how somehow could have something that bad against him,” Hunter said. “He was just, in my opinion, a wonderful, wonderful young man.”

Hunter is not only neighbors with Best, but they also attend the same church.

“He would come to church in his uniform and leave and go back to work,” Hunter said.

Hunter described Best as a hard worker, kind, great husband and father, and a man he loved as a son.

Whose voice he still hears.

“He called me ‘Mr. Robert’ and I still hear it constantly.”

And while he still can’t come to grips with why someone would do this.

“Cause he didn’t bother nobody,” Hunter said.

He feels confident whoever did this, will face justice.

“God says, ‘vengeance is His’ and this was a Godly man, so lookout,” Hunter said.

WTOC did reach out to the Effingham County Prison, where Best worked as a corrections officer, but they have not responded at this time.

The Georgia Department of Corrections is assisting with this investigation.

The shooter has not been identified yet. Anyone with information is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Statesboro at 912.871.1121. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1.800.597.TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

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