Gun ranges and gun stores tend to be pretty safe places, contrary to what some might try to tell you. Unfortunately, though, no place is so safe that bad things can’t happen. It’s a lesson we all should have learned some time back.

A prime example is a triple homicide at a Georgia gun store we talked about last week.

Now, police have made an arrest in the case.

A College Park man accused of shooting and killing three people at a Grantville gun range last weekend had once lived in the area and shopped at the store, police said Monday.

Jacob Christian Muse, 21, was arrested in the shooting deaths of 75-year-old Thomas Richard Hawk Sr., his 75-year-old wife, Evelyn Hawk, and their 18-year-old grandson, Luke Hawk.

…

Muse was arrested at a home in College Park on April 15. Investigators found stolen handguns and long guns inside Muse’s home.

Muse was charged with three counts of malice murder.

Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach spoke to someone who lived with the suspect

His housemate Darron Moore said Muse worked nights and did see him recently with many guns, that he told him were left to him by his grandparents who had collection of firearms.

“He had them in the back of his truck, just laying out there in the open. Wasn’t like he was trying to hide anything,” Moore said.

Muse also apparently lived in the area of the gun store and had been a customer and a regular at the range there, which means they may have known and recognized him when he came in.

That means that if it were Muse who killed the three of them, they likely didn’t peg him as a threat.

That may also explain why Muse would have killed them since they might have been able to ID him.

Of course, all that assumes he’s actually guilty.

Authorities haven’t arrested anyone else associated with the crime but told reporters that might be subject to change as more information becomes available.

It should be noted that Georgia does have the death penalty for premeditated murder, which may become a factor in Muse’s prosecution, should it proceed to that point.

Regardless of who did it, justice needs to be done and all the stolen weapons need to be recovered. There’s literally nothing good that will come out of this, but we can mitigate the bad by arresting any and all responsible and seeing them punished to the fullest extent of the law, and by making sure those firearms taken can’t be used to hurt others.

If it’s Muse, then great. We’re one step closer. If not, perhaps he’ll be able to provide law enforcement with a tip as to where they can find the real killers.

Either way, it appears the police are getting close to wrapping this case up, which is good. Georgia doesn’t need this kind of thing. Nowhere does.

The whole thing is horrible and there is no silver lining to this. Arresting and prosecuting those responsible is the bare minimum of a response, but it’s about all we can do.