A Waleska man was fatally shot by a Cherokee County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday night when he refused to put down a gun pointed at his estranged wife’s head, authorities said.
The man, identified as 45-year-old Robert Mark Frady, was killed at the scene, the GBI said Wednesday. His wife was taken to Northside Hospital Cherokee and treated for injuries unrelated to the shooting. She has since been released from the hospital, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.
Neighbors called 911 about 8:15 p.m. to report a domestic dispute at a mobile home on Hancock Mountain Trail in northern Cherokee, sheriff’s office spokesman Jay Baker said. When the first deputy arrived, he saw Frady holding the gun on the woman through an open door, Baker said.
Because the mobile home was in a rural part of the county, backup was miles away, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“The deputy gave verbal commands for the male to drop the weapon but the male refused,” Baker said in a news release. “The deputy fired his weapon. The suspect was shot and pronounced dead at the scene.”
Witnesses told deputies that before they arrived, the man beat the woman’s head with the gun.
The GBI was requested to investigate, which is standard protocol in officer-involved shootings, Baker said. It was the 19th officer-involved shooting the GBI has investigated in 2019, according to the agency.
Two more officer-involved shootings were reported Wednesday, one in southeast Atlanta and the other in DeKalb County, the GBI said.
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