Sheriff sheds more light on Sandestin shooting spree that killed 22-year-old man

WALTON COUNTY, Fla. -- A Georgia man is now charged in a shooting spree that rocked the Destin community and took the life of a 22-year-old man.

It took four months of painstaking investigative work to get the indictment.

WEAR News talked to Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson about the biggest challenge, and the question that may never be answered.

Late at night on Sept. 21 of last year, a Walton County deputy took down an active shooter, likely preventing further loss of life. But a young man's life was taken -- and this story begins with him.

Wesley Turpin was 22-years-old. After graduating from South Walton High School where he was an avid soccer player, he started working toward a degree and a career in the music business.

"The thing that I still even after all these years cannot wrap my head around is, as a parent, is the worst thing we do is that knock on that door,"Sheriff Adkinson said.

That night, when deputies say 21-year-old Gunner Cole of Warner Robins, Georgia, walked up to a roundabout in Sandestin and started shooting at cars, Turpin was driving home from his job at a pizzeria.

"Same age as my daughters," Sheriff Adkinson said. "Same high school. Doing nothing wrong."

It's not clear exactly how it unfolded, but Turpin's car was later found ablaze, steps away from a hospital parking lot. It's believed he was hit during the rampage and trying make it to the emergency room, but ran off the road.

"At the time, there were multiple things going on,"Sheriff Adkinson remembered. "Yes, you think they're connected but you're not sure. You can't take that for granted."

Sheriff Adkinson says when they realized the scope of the crime -- including multiple crime scenes, an unknown number of victims at that point, and an officer involved shooting that stopped the suspect -- he knew they had no room for mistakes.

"The last thing I want to do is drag this family into court and have them exposed to even more by something we failed to handle professionally and correctly,"Sheriff Adkinson says.

Five teams of investigators worked with the State Attorney's Office to get every detail right. The one thing that eludes them is the same thing that haunts the family, the sheriff, and the community: Why?

"You want to make sense out of something that quite frankly just does not make sense,"Sheriff Adkinson said. "And no explanation I could give you I don't think would bring peace to the family or any level of relief."

In the absence of answers, there are memories. Of a son, a brother and a friend, who made five mission trips and wanted to heal hearts through music. Memories of Wesley.

There are more victims in this case. Another man was shot and survived. A woman who first thought she was shot was actually injured by broken glass. Sheriff Adkinson says at least three other people in vehicles were nearly missed, and several others came within inches of being shot.

In addition to one count of first-degree premeditated murder, Cole is charged with five counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder and six counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle.