Newspaper Page Text
Growth moratorium
proposed in Flowery Branch.
INSIDE, 3A
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Police: Men electrocuted while stealing from substation
BY BEN ANDERSON
AND NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
banderson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Two men were electro
cuted after police believe
they were trying to steal
from a Gainesville power
substation, police said.
The two men, who have
not been identified, were
found around 3 a.m. Mon
day, April 3, in the area
behind Liquid Nation
Brewing on Atlanta
Highway.
“It occurred in a
fenced-off, well-marked
area behind our brew
ery where there’s a live
transformer there, which
actually doesn’t supply
any power to our brew
ery. It actually is located
back there, but it supplies
power to the rest of some
of the other buildings,”
said Pap Datta, owner of
Liquid Nation Brewing.
Datta said the bodies
weren’t removed from
the area until around
noon.
Hall County Deputy
Coroner Kevin Wetzel
said the bodies were
transported to the Geor
gia Bureau of Investiga
tion for autopsy.
■ Please see MEN, 3A
Two men were electrocuted
after police believe they
were trying to steal from
a Gainesville power
substation located behind
Liquid Nation Brewing on
Atlanta Highway.
SCOTT ROGERS
The Times
‘Shot... with his own gun’
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Quaran Jackson enters Hall County Magistrate Court Monday, April 3, for a committal hearing. Jackson, 17, is accused of shooting
Gabriel Ledford, 19, of Gainesville, near the 3000 building at Summit Place at Limestone Place around 5 p.m. on Jan. 9.
Investigator testifies in Gainesville shooting involving 17-year-old suspect
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville teenager
told law enforcement he
was shot at with his own
gun, leading to serious inju
ries that almost cost him
his life, according to court
testimony.
Quaran Jamir Jackson, 17,
of Gillsville, appeared Mon
day, April 3, in Magistrate
Court with attorney Chloe
Owens in an attempted mur
der case.
Jackson also faces
charges of possession of a
firearm during the commis
sion of a crime, aggravated
battery, aggravated assault
and armed robbery from the
Jan. 9 shooting in Gaines
ville. He was arrested a
month after the shooting.
Gainesville Police Inves
tigator Brad Raper said it
happened around 4:51 p.m.
Jan. 9 on Shades Valley
Lane. Officers were called
out to a person who had
been shot, finding Gabriel
Ledford, 19, inside his moth
er’s apartment.
Ledford was transported
to Northeast Georgia
Medical Center in critical
condition after losing a “tre
mendous amount of blood,”
Raper said.
“They gave him multiple
(transfusions) of blood to
bring him back,” Raper tes
tified. “It was told to me that
he would not have made it
had he not been so close to
the trauma center, given the
amount of blood that he was
losing.”
Five shell casings were
found at the scene, all 9 mm
caliber.
Ledford said he was out
side waiting for a friend
to come over when he was
approached by a vehicle
pulling up behind him,
according to Raper’s
testimony.
The 19-year-old said a per
son jumped out and grabbed
his backpack.
“Part of Gabriel’s state
ment was he had a gun in
his backpack, that they got
out, they tried to take his
phone,” Raper said. “They
tried to take his gun from
him and they ultimately just
took his phone and left the
scene with his phone. But he
claimed they took his gun
away from him and shot him
with his own gun as well as
another gun that they had
brought.”
Ledford said he did not
know who they were, Raper
said.
Ledford’s gun was found
at the residence, and the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives
was able to determine there
were two different firearms
used.
The other gun has not
been found, the investigator
said. The stolen cellphone
is also still missing despite
attempts to ping and call it.
After determining who
had the car, law enforce
ment arrested another
17-year-old Gainesville man
following a traffic stop.
Raper said that man told
him a story that the inves
tigator has since debunked,
but a search of his phone
found a message between
him and Jackson roughly an
hour after the shooting.
Raper said Ledford sent
a name and a picture of
the person who he thought
it was, identifying Jackson,
though he wasn’t completely
certain.
Raper obtained search
■ Please see JACKSON, 3A
Quaran
Jackson sits
in Hall County
Magistrate Court
Monday, April 3,
for a committal
hearing.
Jackson, 17,
is accused of
shooting Gabriel
Ledford, 19, of
Gainesville, near
the 3000 building
at Summit Place
at Limestone
Place around 5
p.m. on Jan. 9.
Hall County
rehab expected
to open in 2025
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
State approval has been given to a new long
term physical rehabilitation center at 2500
Limestone Parkway in Gainesville.
Construction of the $62 million building is
expected to begin later this year.
Northeast Georgia Health System and Life-
point Rehabilitation are teaming up to build
the 40-room, 61,000-square-foot center, which
is expected to open in 2025.
The project involves tearing down the old
J & J Foods, which had operated a grocery
store at the site between 2005 and 2018. When
it closed, the store was known as The Market
on Limestone.
Inpatient rehabilitation services have been
offered since 1989 at Northeast Georgia Medi
cal Center Gainesville, which has a 24-bed unit.
The new facility will feature a wing for brain
injury and stroke patients, and a therapy suite
including a gym, private rooms and a cooking
room. It also will have an Activities of Daily
Living therapy apartment and rehabilita
tion equipment, according to an NGHS press
release on Monday, April 3.
The facility will provide intensive nursing,
physical, occupational and speech pathology
services for adults recovering from conditions
such as stroke, neurological disease, brain or
spinal cord injury and other debilitating ill
nesses or injuries.
■ Please see REHAB, 3A
Rendering provided by Northeast Georgia Health System
State approval has been given to a new
61,000-square-foot inpatient physical
rehabilitation center at 2500 Limestone Parkway
in Gainesville.
Popular thrift store
franchise to open
Gainesville spot
BY DONNELL SUGGS
dsuggs@gainesvilletimes.com
A Value Village franchise is opening in Gaines
ville, and the owner believes it will add another
reasonably priced option for clothing and
furniture.
“The area really needs to have something with
a cost point that’s better for the value, ” said Value
Village franchise owner Tom Stutzman. “There’s
nothing in this area like us and I don’t think any
one does the job that we do.”
Located next to Get Air Trampoline Park in the
Browns Bridge Crossing shopping center, the new
store will have 30-35 employees, Stutzman said.
The store features wide aisles, making it easier
for employees and customers to coexist among
the clothes, shoes, socks, new and used furniture
and household items, said Stutzman, who has
been in the retail business for over four decades
and personally owns 11 Value Village franchises
throughout metro Atlanta.
“All of our stores are like this. I just think it
makes it easier to shop,” Stutzman said.
He added that the interior and exterior con
struction, including the shipment and placement
of the goods for the space, took just under three
weeks to complete. A storefront had to be created
and carved out of the brick wall that was once in
its place. Major utilities were also installed or
replaced in the space, including the ventilation
for central air conditioning and heat.
Value Village purchases all of the store’s mer
chandise from the American Kidney Fund, a
Maryland-based qualified 501(c)(3) organization
■ Please see VALUE, 3A