A Cobb County man is accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend in the eye with a BB gun at her son's school bus stop, leaving her with an injury serious enough to require two-and-a-half hours of surgery to remove the projectile from her eye socket. Cole Holloway was arrested by Cobb County police in connection with the shooting.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, Holloway allegedly fired the BB gun at his ex-girlfriend while she was at her son's school bus stop, striking her in the eye. She underwent the lengthy surgery to have the BB extracted from her eye socket.
A Weapon Often Dismissed as a Toy, Treated as a Felony
BB guns are frequently viewed by the public as harmless novelty items, but Georgia law treats intentional shootings involving them as serious felony offenses. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21, aggravated assault involving a weapon capable of causing serious bodily harm carries a potential sentence of one to 20 years in prison, according to Justia Law. Georgia appellate courts affirmed in the case *In the Interest of I.C.* that intentionally discharging a BB gun toward a person meets that statutory threshold because of the risk of serious bodily harm, per the same legal source.
The medical stakes of a BB striking someone's eye are severe. Research from the American Academy of Ophthalmology found that non-powder guns, including BB and pellet rifles, account for nearly half of all pediatric sports- and recreation-related eye injury hospitalizations and carry a high risk of permanent vision impairment. Ocular BB injuries commonly involve orbital fractures, hyphema, or the kind of surgical foreign-body extraction the victim in this case reportedly underwent.
Prior Relationship Could Trigger Family Violence Protocols
Because Holloway and the victim were previously in a relationship, the case could fall under Georgia's Family Violence Act only if their relationship meets the statute's qualifying requirements; people who only dated, never lived together, and share no child generally cannot use the family-violence route. Under O.C.G.A. § 19-13-1, felony acts like aggravated assault committed against a qualifying former romantic partner qualify as family violence, which allows victims to immediately seek Temporary Protective Orders — including ex parte orders granted by a judge before a full hearing takes place, according to Georgia Criminal Defense.
The alleged shooting occurred at a school bus stop. It remains unknown whether prosecutors will pursue additional charges against Holloway.
Similar Cases Show a Pattern of Felony Charges
This is not the first time a BB gun attack in metro Atlanta has drawn felony charges. In March 2025, Gwinnett County police arrested a 48-year-old man on aggravated assault and child cruelty charges after he allegedly discharged a BB gun at two young children, ages 6 and 7, playing near his yard, according to FOX 5 Atlanta's earlier reporting. In September 2020, Hall County sheriff's deputies arrested a 50-year-old woman under the Family Violence Act on aggravated assault and battery charges after she allegedly shot her live-in partner in the chest with a BB rifle, per 11Alive, with the victim requiring transport to a regional medical center for severe injuries.
Local Resources for Domestic Violence Survivors
LiveSafe Resources answered 1,991 crisis line calls and provided direct support services to nearly 3,500 individuals in 2023, according to the organization's own data.
Hoodline previously reported on a KSU bus driver attacked by a different suspect under separate circumstances. It is not yet known whether Holloway has been formally indicted or whether prosecutors will pursue family violence or school-zone sentencing enhancements in this case.
