The GBI has been called to investigate a dozen more officer-involved shootings so far this year — and nine more fatal incidents — than the agency was requested to investigate during the same eight-month period last year, data shows.
That’s after opening its 64th and 65th investigations this year within a 24-hour span.
The first was a shooting in South Georgia on Sunday night, while the second was in Smyrna on Monday afternoon.
According to data, the GBI was called to investigate 53 shootings involving a police officer last year, with 20 of the incidents ending in deaths. Sunday’s incident in Kingsland is the 29th fatal shooting involving a Georgia police officer this year.
Kingsland police officers were sent to an apartment in the 100 block of Gross Road after a woman was heard screaming in a 911 call. When officers arrived at the home, they looked through a window and saw a man holding a knife and a woman “in distress,” the GBI said in a news release.
Police entered the apartment and the woman ran into a bedroom, the release said. The man, identified as 47-year-old Gearil Leonard Williams, ran into the room after her and barricaded himself inside.
Officers tried to get into the room but were unsuccessful. One officer, identified as Sgt. Paul George, went outside the apartment and tried to get into the bedroom by breaking a window, the GBI said.
During the incident, George fired his service weapon, striking Williams. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Monday, a Smyrna police officer fired several times at a stolen U-Haul after its driver rammed a patrol car during a chase, the police department said. No one was injured.
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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