ECHOLS COUNTY — A feud among neighbors that continued to intensify despite the efforts of Echols County law enforcement may have contributed to the deaths of three men Sunday night.

Echols County Sheriff Randy Courson said that it could be several weeks before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation releases any sort of official report on the domestic dispute gone wrong. He said that the process of conducting autopsies and toxicology tests can be a slow one. He does not know when all of the findings will be made available to his office.

“We just have to wait,” he said.

At 11:28 p.m. Sunday, an Echols County Sheriff’s Office deputy, whose name is being withheld until the GBI investigation has been completed, was sent to address a downed power line, Courson noted. A few minutes later, he received word of a complaint of loud music and shots fired in the 200 block of Lisa Circle. The deputy cleared the power line and then made his way to the neighborhood, which sits some 100 yards from the intersection of Lisa Circle and Tince Road. He arrived on the scene at 11:58 p.m., Courson said.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Courson said that was the only time the deputy had been dispatched to the neighborhood that particular evening.

On the scene, Courson said the deputy addressed the excessive noise issue with the men and women involved. While he was doing so, a verbal dispute occurred between at least one of the women and a next-door neighbor living at 207 Lisa Circle. That dispute soon turned physical, he added.

As the deputy addressed that situation, 67-year-old Billy Corbett of 207 Lisa Circle pulled a small caliber handgun and fatally wounded David Coody Jr., 35, of Lowndes County, and Chad Wiggins, 36, resident of the home with the alleged loud music. Corbett was then shot and killed by the deputy. He was not shot in the back or shot while lying on the ground, contrary to rumors, Courson said.

Earlier this year, Courson said the Corbett family allowed a convicted child molester to move into a single-wide mobile home on their property with their granddaughter. The Corbetts live in a double-wide mobile home on the same tract of land. Their neighbors did not approve of the registered sex offender living near their children and filed complaints with the Echols County Sheriff’s Office.

“I think the bad blood between them pretty much stemmed from that,” Courson shared. “They really didn’t have any problems before that happened — except a dispute a little while back over land and putting up a fence.”

“We tried to address the situation,” he continued. “We increased patrol in the area, but things simply escalated. I understand their concern as they have small children. We could not legally force the man to move to another neighborhood. From day one, he complied with all requirements. He has done everything he was supposed to do.”

Courson said he does not believe the man was on the property when the shootings occurred Sunday.

No charges have been filed at this time in the shooting deaths.

The deputy remains on administrative leave with pay until the investigation has been completed as protocol mandates, Courson said.