The Cook family of La Paz, Ind., never had any reason to suspect that their father’s life was in danger when the ringing of a phone pierced the early-morning quiet of home Sunday.
“He called at 5 a.m. and said he just wanted us to know about it right away,” said Ben Cook, the 22-year-old son of Sgt. Danny Cook, who was shot in the head near the school in Doraville, Ga., where his Indiana National Guard unit was staying.
With a day left before they flew home from the Olympic Games, Cook and another guardsman, Spc. Juventino Silva, were shot by a man who jumped out of some bushes as the two were walking home from a restaurant. Silva died from his wounds.
The unit had been in Atlanta for several weeks as part of the extra security for the Games.
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The Cook family’s impromptu celebration Sunday morning was marred by grief, though, when they learned of the death of Silva, who was their father’s friend as well as cohort. Police have no motive for the incident.
Silva, 25, a Chicago-area resident, was shot several times and killed at the scene, police and national guard officials said.
Cook, 43, received a graze wound to the head; he was treated and released from a local hospital.
Guard reports list Silva’s hometown as Highland, Ind., but members of the Cook family in Indiana said their friend actually lived in Chicago.
Both men were part of a 4,000-member Indiana National Guard contingent that had been in Atlanta for two weeks and were scheduled to fly home early Monday morning, said Capt. Charles Whitaker of the Indiana Army National Guard. The Olympics ended Sunday night.
Cook was still planning to be on a plane to Indianapolis on Monday, according to his son.
“He was happy to go down there to see (the Olympics), but he’s definitely ready to come home now,” said Ben Cook.”And we’re ready to see him.”
The shooting occurred in Doraville, a suburb northeast of Atlanta, at about 3:25 a.m. Sunday. The two men had been eating together at a Waffle House restaurant and started walking the four blocks to their makeshift base at Sequoyah Junior High School.
A man jumped out of some bushes near them and fired seven shots “without provocation,” said Whitaker and other officials. The two guardsmen were off duty at the time and were wearing civilian clothes.
“(Sgt. Cook) told us they were just walking along and when they got a little way down the road, someone started yelling something and the next thing he knew, he was shot,” said the younger Cook.
Moments later, a neighborhood resident heard Sgt. Cook’s cries for help.
“He was screaming . . . Help! Help me! Somebody shot my friend!” said Norma Olvera, who was awakened by the bursts of gunfire and called police.
No arrests had been made as of Sunday evening, and police and National Guard officials said the reason for the attack remained a mystery.
Ben Cook said he could think of no motive for someone to shoot Silva or his father, who works in a factory when he is not serving with the Guard unit. He suspected that random street violence may have been to blame.
Silva and Cook are members of Company C, 2-151 Infantry Battalion based in Plymouth, Ind., located about 20 miles south of South Bend. Sunday, members of the unit at home held a closed-door memorial service for their slain colleague.
“It has been a pretty rough two weeks for them,” Whitaker said. “Some members of the unit were in the park for the bombing. And now this. They are ready to go home.”