Buzz Franklin

The case of the Ringgold, Ga., man who shot and killed a 17-year-old boy last month remains up in the air.

After meeting with investigators Wednesday afternoon, Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert "Buzz" Franklin said he has not decided whether to push for the indictment of 69-year-old Fred Steven Youngblood. Franklin said he still needs to review interviews from parties involved, the crime scene investigation and the autopsy report.

On Nov. 11, according to the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office, Dalton McConathy and a 16-year-old friend went to Youngblood's home on Post Oak Road in Ringgold. The boys allegedly came to steal scrap metal. They thought the property was empty. But Youngblood was home, and he shot McConathy dead.

Youngblood told investigators he fired in self-defense. He said McConathy and the other boy were charging toward him when he shot McConathy in the neck.

Franklin said he has not yet decided whether to present the case to a grand jury, which then would choose whether to indict Youngblood for killing McConathy. On Wednesday, the district attorney talked about the case with Sheriff Gary Sisk and four members of the Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigators.

Sisk did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Franklin does not know when he will decide. He hopes to review the full investigative file next week.

"I haven't, again, come to any conclusions," he said. "I haven't reviewed everything in detail. When I do, then we will know where we are."

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com.