Police in Bogart, Georgia, arrested 45-year-old Richard Harold Gear earlier this week after he shot and killed 21-year-old Bryan Joseph Mough, a motorcyclist who had followed Gear's teenage daughters home from a Target department store in Athens. Gear claims that the shooting was in self-defense; however, authorities say that the evidence points to murder.
According to police, Gear's two daughters, ages 17 and 19, called their father from their cell phones Monday evening and told him that Mough was following them on a motorcycle. The girls allegedly said that the incident started when they made obscene gestures at him after he cut them off in the Target parking lot. The girls also claimed that Mough had run his motorcycle into the back of their Nissan Sentra.
When the girls pulled up to their family home, Gear was standing in the driveway with a loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun. Mough initially continued driving down the road but then turned around to pass by the house again. When Mough drove by the second time, Gear raised his handgun and fired multiple shots. One of the bullets struck Mough in the back. Gear then called 911 and reported the shooting, allegedly claiming that he had fired the gun in self-defense when Mough attempted to run him over with the motorcycle. When paramedics arrived on the scene, they transported Mough to a local hospital, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Afterwards, police arrested Gear and charged him with the murder of Bryan Joseph Mough.
"I don't know how you can legally shoot someone in the back on a motorcycle and then claim that he was trying to run you down," Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry told ABC News.
Berry is also skeptical of statements given by Gear's two daughters. None of the surveillance footage from inside the Target department store or in the parking lot indicates that Mough had any contact with the girls. In addition, Berry is unconvinced that Mough had rammed their car.
"It would be unusual for a motorcycle to ram a four-wheel vehicle," he said.
Police are also reinvestigating a 2006 incident when they responded to a similar incident at the Gear residence.
"I was dispatched to <redacted> Gear Road in Bogart in reference to property damage," reads a police report filed by Oconee County Sheriff Deputy Jason Lowe on February 25, 2006. "Upon my arrival, I made contact with Richard Gear, who told me that persons unknown to him entered his property. These unknown persons were asked to leave. When the unknown persons were leaving, they damaged Gear's mailbox and post by backing over it with a white Chevy Lumina car. I made contact with the driver of the Chevy Lumina, <redacted> said that it was an accident, <redacted> said that they left in a hurry when shots were fired at them."
Investigators examined the allegations but were unable to prove that Gear had fired a weapon at the individuals. However, in wake of Monday's shooting, police are looking into reinvestigating the 2006 incident.
"We're revisiting [Gear's] whole past history," Berry told Onlineathens.com. "That's our responsibility and obligation. [Mough's death] encouraged us to go back and interview people who may have had contact with the suspect in this case."
Gear is currently being held without bond while police continue their investigation. In the meantime, Mough's funeral has been scheduled for Saturday, March 1, at Carter Funeral Home in Winder.
Anyone with information about this case or other incidents involving Richard Harold Gear should contact the Oconee County Sheriff's Office at 706-769-3945.
our sites
video
shop
stay connected
corporate
