Paul Smith was just 16 years old when deputies found him unresponsive in a car on Bass Cross Road Tuesday night. The LaGrange teen had been shot. It was a little after 7 p.m. on October 13 when the call came in.
Someone had driven him away from a house on Sims Road after the shots. That person dialed 911 for help. Deputies got to the 200 block of Bass Cross Road at 7:03 p.m. and saw the gunshot wounds right away.

Firefighters and medics jumped in with life-saving work on the spot. They rushed Paul to Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center. Doctors kept trying there too. He did not make it.
Paul lived in LaGrange. He had his whole life ahead of him. Friends and family now face the sudden hole left behind. No one has shared much about who he was beyond his age and hometown.
Detectives from the Troup County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division pieced it together fast. The shooting happened at the Sims Road place. Hunter Smith, 21, was there when they showed up.
They arrested Hunter without any trouble just before 10 p.m. He went straight to the Troup County Jail. Officials have not said if the two knew each other or what set it off.
The case is still open. Investigators keep digging into what happened that night on Sims Road. For now, a 16-year-old is gone and a 21-year-old sits in jail.



