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Homicide Investigation

08/24/2014

Columbia County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to the VFW on Highway 82 East in reference to a fight with shots fired at 1:13 AM. Two people were transported to the Magnolia Regional Medical Center in Magnolia, one by ambulance and one by a personal vehicle, where they later died. The victims were Brandon T. Hobdy, 23 of Garland, TX, who was a student at Southern Arkansas University, and Wayne A. Payton, 24 of Magnolia. The shooting is being investigated as a double homicide. Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, Magnolia Police Department, and Southern Arkansas University Police Department are working together in the investigation. If you have any information about the incident, please call the Sheriff’s Office at (870) 234-5655. 

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