A man suspected of trafficking drugs outside a Walmart in Holly Springs was shot Monday night by members of a Cherokee County narcotics squad and later died after striking two vehicles on I-575, officials said.
The GBI was called to investigate the police shooting. A large police presence converged in the parking lot of the store just off the interstate on Holly Springs Parkway, including authorities from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and Canton Police Department.
About 7:30 p.m., the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad was conducting an undercover operation at the Walmart when a man thought to be selling heroin and fentanyl was approached by agents, Cherokee sheriff’s office spokesman Jay Baker said in a news release.
The suspect, later identified by the GBI as 35-year-old Normiez Reeves of Riverdale, attempted to flee the area and in the process rammed an agent’s vehicle and drove toward agents, Baker said. At that point, the agents fired at Reeves, striking him.
Despite being hit, the man drove his SUV north on Holly Springs Parkway and struck a guard rail, drove down the exit ramp from I-575 in the wrong direction and hit two vehicles, according to the release. The drivers of those vehicles were not injured.
After the crash, Reeves was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where he died from his injures, Baker said. The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office will perform his autopsy, agency spokesperson Nelly Miles confirmed.
No officers were injured during the incident.
Baker said it’s the first shooting involving the narcotics squad since 1993.
If confirmed by the GBI, the incident would be the 60th officer-involved shooting the state agency has been asked to investigate this year and the second in 24 hours.
Earlier Monday, Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a man they say had a handgun during an encounter at a home north of Valdosta, the GBI said. The man had been threatening to hurt himself, according to the state agency. His name was not released, and GBI officials did not say why deputies used lethal force against him.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
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