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FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Man kills 2-year-old son, shoots self
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A man shot his 2-year-old son
and then turned the gun on himself
in an overnight murder suicide
in the Poplar Springs Road area,
according to authorities.
Hall County Sheriffs Office dep
uties first responded around 12:30
a.m. to a call about a “man assault
ing a 23-year-old woman and leav
ing the residence with the couple’s
2-year-old son.”
The man, identified as Christian
Castro, 24, left with his son, Chris
tian Castro Jr.
Deputies spotted Castro’s vehi
cle on the property of a home adja
cent to his on Poplar Springs Road.
“As deputies approached the
car on foot, Castro fired several
gunshots at them, but no one was
injured. Deputies could see Cas
tro’s son sitting on his lap in the
car,” spokesman Derreck Booth
wrote in a news release.
Castro drove around in a pasture
as law enforcement established
a perimeter. A negotiator was
unsuccessful in reaching Castro by
phone after multiple attempts.
“At approximately 3:30 a.m.,
deputies heard gunshots coming
from Castro’s vehicle. Sheriff’s
Office SWAT Team members
immediately approached the car
and discovered that Castro had
shot and killed his son, then turned
the gun on himself,” Booth said.
Booth said no shots were fired
out of concern for the child’s
safety.
Both bodies were taken to the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
crime lab.
Police for Gainesville, Oakwood,
Flowery Branch and Gwinnett
County assisted in the case as well
as the Forsyth County Sheriff’s
Office and Georgia State Patrol.
“First and foremost, our
thoughts and prayers go out to the
child’s family, and we ask that our
community do the same. During
the course of this incident the per
petrator fired upon the deputies,
who in turn demonstrated remark
able restraint by not returning fire
out of concern for the safety of the
child. They quickly contained the
situation to ensure that no other
lives were put at risk, and they
■ Please see MURDER, 4A
A courtroom of their own
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Attendees to DUI Court sit inside Judge Larry Baldwin’s new courtroom Thursday, June 27. The courtroom has recently been
renovated to be used by Judge Baldwin.
State Court Judge Baldwin waited long time for renovations
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
State Court Judge Larry Baldwin’s era
without a courtroom to call his own came
to an end this week, a streak lasting longer
than a decade.
“Judge Baldwin has been waiting on
a courtroom 10-and-a-half years ... This
week was his first time to have his own
courtroom,” Hall County Court Adminis
trator Reggie Forrester said.
Baldwin, who also presides over DUI
Court, has shared court time with his fel
low State Court judges while the county
neared the end of its court shuffle.
Superior Court Judge Clint Bearden, the
fifth judge appointed in December 2017,
has faced a similar fate.
Bearden, who is on vacation this week,
can come home to a remodeled courtroom
on the main courthouse’s second floor.
■ Please see COURT, 8A
Renovations to a former Magistrate Court are now complete Thursday, June 27, for
Judge Clint Bearden to occupy. Upgrades to the room include new carpeting and
more technology.
FLOWERY BRANCH
Vote delayed
on church
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Flowery Branch City Council put off until July
18 deciding whether to OK McEver Road United
Methodist Church’s request to build a new
church off McEver Road at Gainesville Street.
Council members said Thursday, June 27 they
want more time to study the matter.
“This is a very tender subject and we want to
make sure we get it right,” Councilman Chris
Mundy said.
The vote followed a public hearing and discus
sion in front of a packed audience at City Hall,
made up mostly of church members.
McEver Road UMC, currently at 3606 McEver
Road, is trying to rezone the 11,3-acre site, which
is also across from Jim Crow Road, from agricul
tural to institutional to enable the project.
Flowery Branch staff is recommending that
City Council deny the project off McEver Road
and Gainesville Street, saying it believes that
corner should be reserved for neighborhood
shopping.
The city’s land-use plan “calls for this site to be
neighborhood commercial,” says a staff report,
citing area subdivisions under construction.
“It should be a commercial development that
■ Please see CHURCH, 7A
Supreme Court
rules on census
BY MARK SHERMAN
AND JESSICA GRESK0
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a surprising move, the
Supreme Court on Thursday kept the Trump
administration from adding a citizenship ques
tion to the 2020 census for now, and the ques
tion’s opponents say there’s no time to revisit
the issue before next week’s scheduled start to
the printing of census forms.
But President Donald Trump said on Twit
ter after the decision that he’s asked lawyers
if they can “delay the Census, no matter how
long” until the “United States Supreme Court
is given additional information from which it
can make a final and decisive decision” on the
issue. Under federal law the census must begin
on April 1,2020. A former director of the Census
Bureau said he believed Congress would have to
change the law for the count to be delayed.
■ Please see CENSUS, 4A
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