SandyMaloneLocust Grove, GA – A police officer was fatally shot, and two others were wounded, while serving a warrant in Locus Grove on Friday morning.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer said that the Locust Grove police officer who was shot had died “at the scene or shortly thereafter,” but refused to give any details as to where the officer was shot, or how many times.
Two Henry County sheriff’s deputies were also shot. One was in serious condition and in surgery at the time of the press conference. The other deputy was in fair condition, according to Sheriff McBrayer.
The suspect was shot by police, and died at the scene.
The sheriff did not release the names of the officers who were shot, but said the Locust Grove officer who was killed had been on the department for about five years.
Both deputies were wearing ballistic vests. He said one of the deputies was a 20-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, and the other was a reserve deputy with prior law enforcement experience.
The deputy who was in surgery received a gunshot wound about two inches below his vest.
The sheriff said that the deputy who was shot directly in the vest was in fair condition.
Wade Corley told WXIA that his brother, Michael Corley, was the deputy who was shot in the vest.
He stopped to give an interview outside Atlanta Medical center, where all three officers were transported after the incident.
“Thank God for the bulletproof vest,” said Wade Corley, a pastor at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Griffin. “The bullet went through the vest and caught him near the right side of his ribs.
“Police officers don’t get paid enough for what they have to do,” Wade Corley said.
Sheriff McBrayer said that the incident began at 10:53 a.m. when two Henry County deputies arrived at the home on St. Francis Court to serve a warrant for failure to appear in court.
He said the warrant had been issued by the Locust Grove municipal court, but did not know the nature of the offense behind the missed court appearance.
The sheriff said that the deputies radioed for backup soon after their arrival at the home, and that a Locust Grove officer who was murdered arrived in about three minutes.
“Of course, you never know when you take somebody into custody what kind of response you’re going to get but our information is that it was obvious the individual was not going to go – that’s the reason they called for a locust grove officer to give them some assistance – because they knew he was not going to be willing to go with them,” Sheriff McBrayer said.
He said there was an altercation when the officers went to take the suspect into custody, and that’s when the three officers were shot.
“The individual they were there to arrest is deceased, and was shot during the encounter,” Sheriff McBrayer said.
The sheriff said the shootings all took place inside the residence. There were other people present but nobody else was wounded.
Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) spokesperson Nellie Miles said authorities had identified the suspect, but were not releasing his name or what kind of weapon he used to shoot the officers.
GBI was leading the investigation with assistance from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Henry County Police, and the Locust Grove Police.
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