Local police say Matthew Willson was shot at random while visiting his girlfriend in Brookhaven.
Image source, Brookhaven Police
An astrophysicist has been killed in a “reckless” shooting while visiting his girlfriend in the US state of Georgia.
At 02:00 local time (07:00 GMT) officers were called to an apartment block in Clairmont Road, Buford Highway, Georgia.
Dr Matthew Willson, 31, from Surrey, UK, was found in bed with a single gunshot wound to the head.
The Foreign Office said it was “supporting the family of a British man following his death”.
Brookhaven Police said the shooting of Dr Willson, from Chertsey, was “random” and involved the “reckless discharge of firearms”.
Dr Willson “was in town from England visiting loved ones when the incident occurred,” police said.
Officers had earlier been called to a neighbouring block of flats after reports of gunshots. They received a second call regarding a “person being shot” while they were checking the area.
No suspects have so far been arrested and police are seeking information from the public. Authorities are offering a cash reward for tips that lead to an arrest.
Sgt Jake Kissel from Brookhaven Police described the location of the shooting as “a generally safe area”.
Sgt Kissel told BBC Radio Surrey that officers “immediately responded to the priority call of someone being shot and that’s where they met with a female caller who was rendering aid to her boyfriend who had been shot dead”.
