Suspect in custody after murder in Cherokee County

Suspect in custody after murder in Cherokee County

PHOTO: 19-year-old Matthew Gonzalez of Cedartown, Georgia is suspected of shooting a man in the head in Cherokee County on Saturday night. (Paulding County Sheriff's Office)

By Staff Reports

Matthew Gonzalez, 19 of Cedartown is currently in custody in Paulding County, Georgia for a DUI arrest the night of the murder. (Paulding County Sheriff's Office)

CENTRE, Ala. — According to Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver: A homicide occurred at a residence in the Salem community overnight on December 2, 2017. Deputies and investigators responded to the residence and discovered a white male with a gun shot wound to the head.

Cherokee County Coroner Jeremy Deaton pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Sheriff’s Office investigators assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, the Coroner’s Office, and the JSU Center for Applied Forensics processed the crime scene.

Chief Investigator Josh Summerford and Investigator Michael Green interviewed the suspect, 19 year-old Matthew Gonzalez (of Cedartown), at the Paulding County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office, where he was taken into custody early Sunday morning for DUI by the Georgia State Patrol.

According to Sheriff Shaver, the suspect will be extradited back to Cherokee County on capital murder charges, after he bonds in Paulding County.