Investigators have captured one Texas fugitive and are looking for another after a northwest Georgia deputy was shot during a traffic stop involving a stolen vehicle Monday.
Jonathan Hosmer, 47, has been arrested in connection with the shooting of Whitfield County sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Hackney, the GBI said Tuesday in a news release. He was found in the woods off Henry Owens Road.
Dalton Potter, 29, has not been seen since he escaped into a wooded area near the Whitfield-Gordon county line, according to GBI Special Agent Joe Montgomery.
Investigators said Potter was driving a stolen trailer in the Dalton area when Hackney stopped him. Potter “fired numerous gunshots” at the deputy from inside the stolen trailer and is facing a charge of aggravated assault, Montgomery said. Hosmer’s involvement in the incident is not clear.
“Deputy Hackney was struck by gunfire, but his ballistic vest prevented serious injury,” Montgomery said. Hackney and another deputy returned fire, but Potter sped away on I-75, he said.
Potter crashed the vehicle shortly after, and it was found near the county line on I-75 South.
Anyone with information on the case or Potter’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office at 706-370-4900.
The investigation into the shooting is the 67th of its kind that the GBI has opened in 2020.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the state agency’s tally.
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