Erick Ferguson has a video on his phone of the night he was almost hit by a bullet in an attempted robbery at a DeKalb County liquor store.
He’s watched it countless times, trying to pinpoint when the alleged robber fired a shot into the crowded store late on New Year’s Eve. He tries to count the number of shots returned by an off-duty Pine Lake officer seated near the beer coolers, working security that night.
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He retraces his path that sent him running straight into the masked gunman, who knocked him to the floor near the cash register, right in the officer’s line of fire.
It is surveillance video, so it’s grainy and the angles make it difficult to decipher what really took place. But with each replay, Ferguson tries to make sense of the fact that he’s alive. The alleged robber is not.
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“I’m not the most spiritual person, but it was an act of God,” Ferguson said Monday from the parking lot of Big John’s Package Store on Memorial Drive, one week after the deadly shooting. “I really do believe that, somehow, if you look at the video, it’s almost like I was pulled back.”
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Every one of the officer’s bullets that struck a window, a car outside and even the gunman himself could have hit Ferguson, he said, as he took cover inches away.
Officer Michael Stokes “immediately fired” at Robert Daniel Barger, 26, of Clarkston, when he entered the store about 11 p.m., according to the GBI. Barger had allegedly pointed a gun and demanded everyone inside, about 20 people by Ferguson’s estimation, get on the ground.
Ferguson said the man fired off one round that tore through the ceiling in the middle of the store. Then he heard 10 or more quick gunshots.
“As I hit the floor, that’s when I start hearing other shots,” he said. “I’m really thinking the guy was shooting the place up, not really thinking there was an officer that was pulling security. My first thought was survival.”
He tried to scramble out the door, running into Barger on the way out.
“I feel that even when I bumped into him, it kind of lined up a clear line of fire for (the officer), slowed the guy down,” Ferguson said.
He does not fault Stokes for firing into the crowd. Bullets crashed through bottles of wine and sent glass flying, but no one except the alleged robber was hurt.
If he could meet Stokes now, Ferguson said he would shake his hand.
“I’m thankful for that police officer,” he said. “Yes, my life was in danger. Yes, one wrong move I could have been hit, but the officer saved lives.”
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
The GBI is still investigating the use of force and is expected to turn its findings over to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office for review. The case is the agency’s first for 2019.
Pine Lake Police Chief Sarai Y’hudah-Green said Tuesday that Stokes is still employed by the department, which is conducting an internal investigation surrounding the shooting.
Green declined to comment further, citing the ongoing GBI investigation.
Ferguson, a hospital worker and a father to a 16-year-old girl, said he is forever changed by the incident. While he is thankful to have his own life, he said he is sorry for the one that was lost and has tried to be more giving in the days since. You never know what someone is going through, he said.
The next Sunday, Ferguson said, “you better believe I was sitting in church.”
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