A 19-year-old Pickens man is facing murder charges after "horseplay" with a handgun led to the shooting death of a 20-year-old friend Saturday.

According to reports from the Pickens Sheriff's office, Trae W. Cagle died late Saturday after being shot a single time in the neck by a .40 caliber handgun earlier that day by Charles Anthony Baxter, 19, of Sylvia's Way in Pickens County.

Chief Deputy Allen Wigington said this is a case where sheriff and GBI investigators know who pulled the trigger but are still looking at the circumstances.

"The deputies and investigators at the scene felt that the statements we received cast suspicion on what transpired and how it unfolded," he said.

Sheriff Billy Wofford, who responded to the call, said after deputies conducted initial interviews, their thoughts were to charge Baxter with aggravated assault (as Cagle was still alive at that point). But Wofford said they also decided to wait and see if GBI investigators reached the same conclusion.

"We had already made a determination, but it never hurts to get a second opinion," the sheriff said. "We wanted to get an outside agency's input, and the GBI concurred."

Wigington said the shooting occurred Saturday at the home of Baxter. Also home were Baxter's mother and Cagle's girlfriend. Wigington said, based on the initial reports, Cagle, a Marietta resident, had spent the night.

That morning, Wigington said, there was "horseplay" going on between Cagle and Baxter when the shooting occurred.

The 911 call brought responses from deputies as well as EMS and firefighters. Cagle, already unconscious, was transported to Piedmont Mountainside. He was brain dead upon arrival at the hospital, according to reports given to Wigington.

Baxter was charged with aggravated assault and transported to the Pickens County Jail.

On Monday, following Cagle's death, the GBI carried murder charges to the jail and served Baxter there with the additional warrants. He remains in jail with no bond set.

Baxter had no previous criminal record in the local system.

District Attorney Joe Hendricks said Baxter has been charged with murder, but that could change when the investigation is complete and the facts and reports are presented to the grand jury.

"Obviously the investigation is not finished, and there may be more facts when we present it to the grand jury," he said.

Hendricks said Georgia has a very old, traditional, definition of murder. From a legal standpoint, you can face felony murder charges if you are committing a felony and someone dies as a result, whether you intended to kill or not, the DA said. He said a death does not have to be pre-meditated to result in murder charges.

"So if you point a gun at somebody, it doesn't have to be loaded, or you don't know if it's loaded, and you kill someone through that, it [will lead to murder charges]," he said.

Hendricks said in this case, just the act of pointing the gun at someone would lead to aggravated assault charges, regardless of the intention, and if the person endangered by the gun died, it becomes a murder.

Cagle had lived with his parents in Alpharetta before moving to Marietta. Although not from this area, while a teenager, Cagle played on the locally based North Georgia Falcons football team. Falcon players are drawn from Christian homeschool students across north Georgia.

His coach during the 2005 year, Roger McDaniel recalled Cagle as a tough player who was not afraid to go against much larger players and someone who would go out of his way to look out for players.

"Trae was a fierce protector of his teammates and of those he loved," McDaniel wrote in an e-mail. "He was a great guy."