A man who exchanged gunfire with police in northeast Georgia was arrested Tuesday after spending a night on the run, according to the GBI.
Montavious Cantrell Winkfield, 37, was taken into custody after fleeing from officers in the mountainous area around Toccoa, the GBI said.
Police pulled over Winkfield near Diagonal Street just after 2 p.m., the state agency said. Few details have been released about the incident, but the GBI said Winkfield exited his car and began shooting at the officers performing the traffic stop. An officer fired back at Winkfield, and he ran away, the GBI said.
No one was injured.
Diagonal Street is located in a residential area near the center of Toccoa, though the area is still heavily wooded. The town has a population of less than 10,000 and is known as the location of the first training base for paratroopers in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, the rural base featured heavily in the book “Band of Brothers” and the HBO miniseries of the same name.
Toccoa police took out arrest warrants charging Winkfield with two counts of aggravated assault against law enforcement officers, the GBI said. The state agency announced Winkfield had been taken into custody the following day.
The GBI did not say why police initially pulled over Winkfield.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Toccoa police tipline at 706-282-3236. Tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477) or visiting https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online.
This is the 41st shooting involving law enforcement the GBI has investigated so far this year, and the second announced Monday. The GBI was also asked to investigate a shooting in Savannah, where police exchanged gunfire with a homicide suspect as they pursued him. The suspect was hit and taken to the hospital, but the GBI has not provided an update on his condition.
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