By Steven Thomas
Valley Times-News

WEST POINT — A suspect wanted in connection with a shooting last week has turned himself in. Eric Bridges, 25, of West Point, turned himself in at the West Point Police Department at approximately 5:20 p.m. Monday afternoon, Captain Robert Fawley said.

“He and his family came in,” Fawley said. “They wanted to get it over with.”

Bridges was arrested for murder and transported to the Troup County Jail. He is being held without bond.

“The West Point Police Department would like to express their appreciation to the family members of Eric Bridges for their assistance in this matter,” the department stated in a press release.

Bridges is the second suspect in custody for an alleged role in a shooting Wednesday evening on Dogwood Circle that resulted in the death of 50-year-old Valley, Alabama, resident Reggie Pearson.

Octavious Bridges, 24, also of West Point, was arrested and charged Friday morning, June 15, at 11 a.m. at his sister’s home in Fairburn, Georgia.

Bridges has also been officially charged with being a fugitive of justice and is also being held for possible involvement with a home invasion/robbery that occurred in Lanett, Alabama, back in December.

The last suspect, Trent Murphy, 24, of West Point, remains at large.

Pearson was discovered on a porch at a residence in the 1000 block of Dogwood Circle in West Point. According to a WPPD press release, he had been shot in the chest.

Fawley said investigators believe Pearson was meeting with Murphy and Bridges for a narcotics transaction.

An anonymous tip led West Point officers and members of the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force-Atlanta to the residence where Bridges was hiding. He was apprehended without incident. 

Also helping out in the case were the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Troup County Sheriff’s Office, Troup County Coroner’s Office and Lanett Police Department.

“We still don’t have anything on Murphy,” Fawley said. “We believe he is still in the area.”

The WPPD is requesting anyone who may have any information regarding this incident or who may have been in the area during this time and noticed any suspicious person or vehicle to call the WPPD at (706) 645-3525 or (706) 645-3548 or Crime Stoppers at (706) 812 1000.