The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued the following statement on Saturday’s fatal shooting by Cobb police officers in Mableton:

GBI Investigates Officer Involved Shooting in Cobb County

Mableton, GA (June 12, 2022) – The GBI is investigating an officer involved shooting in Mableton, Cobb County, GA. The Cobb County Police Department (CCPD) asked the GBI to conduct an independent investigation on Saturday, June 11, 2022. One man was shot and is deceased. No officers were injured during the incident.

Preliminary information indicates that at 11:38 a.m., CCPD received a 911 call from a resident of 4683 Heritage Lakes Court, Mableton, Cobb County, GA. There was an armed man, later identified as Cesar Anthony Pena, age 41, of Mableton, shooting a firearm at family members in the home. Officers responded and while there, heard gun shots inside the home. The SWAT team responded to the scene and at one point, Pena stepped outside onto the front porch with a shotgun. Two officers shot Pena and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Once complete, it will be turned over to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office for review.

This is the 58^th officer involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2022.

The GBI’s role in investigating shootings by police

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation routinely investigates the shooting of individuals by police officers, as well as any time an officer discharges a firearm while on duty, at the request of the police agency involved in the shooting.

Natalie Ammons, the Deputy Director of the GBI’s Office of Public Affairs explained to us how the system works.

Police agencies are not required to request outside investigation of officer involved shootings, and there is no formal agreement between the GBI and local police departments.

But police agencies make the request so that an independent agency does the investigation in an incident involving their own officers.

The investigations are carried out by Special Agents in a regional office within the area where the police agency is located. Cobb County, and much of the rest of metro Atlanta, is in the GBI’s Region 10, based in Conyers.

In Region 10, officer involved shootings and corruption investigations are the primary investigations Special Agents do, while in more rural areas with fewer police resources the agents handle a wider range of criminal investigations.

There is no special unit or division that conducts the investigation of officer involved shootings.

The announcements of the investigations can be found at the GBI’s press release web page.