Cobb Police: Country club homicide suspect 'not an active threat to the public'

Cobb Police said Tuesday they’re still seeking a suspect in a triple homicide that took at Pinetree Country Club near Kennesaw on Saturday.

Sgt. Wayne Delk, a Cobb Police spokesman, said in a release that “current information reveals there is not an active threat to the public at large and there was not a directed threat to residents of the neighborhood.”

He didn’t elaborate further and no description of the unidentified suspect has been provided.

Gene Siller, 46, the golfing director at Pinetree, was found with a shotgun wound to the head on the 10th hole of the course around 2:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and was pronounced dead on the scene.

Two other men were found dead in the back of a white Ram 3500 pick-up truck that was also located on the 10th green.

Delk said Tuesday that detectives believe that Siller was caught up in a “crime in progress” involving the suspect and the other two men.

“It does not appear Siller was in any way targeted, but rather was killed because he witnessed an active crime taking place,” Delk said in a Cobb Police statement Tuesday.

One of the other men who died was identified as Paul Pierson, 76, of Kansas, whom police said was the registered owner of the pickup truck. The other victim was not identified but police said he’s believed to be Hispanic.

UPDATE: Cobb Police said Wednesday that the other victim in the truck has been identified as Henry Valdez, 46, of California.

Those two men, Delk said, “appear to have no relation to the location at all.” He said that “we are aware that the public has many questions, the most pressing one being why this happened; however, it is too early in the investigation to speculate as to motive.”

Delk said that anyone with information should contact Cobb Police detectives at 770-499-4111 or at cobbpolicecrimetips@cobbcounty.org.

A fundraiser has been established for Siller’s family that’s already raised most of the $500,000 goal.

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