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ALBANY, GA -- Albany business owner Walter Phelps was laid to rest Wednesday.

Official autopsy results have not been disclosed, but Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards says initial police reports indicate Phelps died as the result of being shot during a robbery at P&P Garden and Hardware last month.  “The treating physician initially reported to them that based on all of his treatment and the observations that were made, that the victim, Mr.. Phelps, was a healthy man who would have been in normal health but for the gunshot wound,” says Edwards.

Dougherty County Coroner Emma Quimbley agrees with Edwards and says the physician who treated Phelps found a blood clot that resulted from a gunshot wound.  Edwards says this information will alter the charges in the case and is now considering the death penalty for the alleged shooter. “The allegation at this time is that there was an armed robbery in addition to the homicide that would be a legal statutory circumstance so we could look at that as a base,” says Edwards.