According to a public information release from Officer Aaron Wilson of the Cobb County Police Department, an officer shot a man who reportedly brandished a firearm in their direction.
The public information release described the incident as follows:
“Mableton, GA (January 2, 2023) On Sunday, January 1, 2023, at 7:47 pm uniform patrol officers from Precinct 2 responded to 6256 David Lane Mableton, Georgia about an armed person that brandished a firearm toward a neighbor.
“Officers responded to the area and observed the suspect in the carport area of the residence still armed with a weapon. Officers gave loud verbal commands to the suspect to drop his weapon.
“The suspect ignored officer commands and raised his weapon in the direction of officers, at which point an officer discharged his weapon at the suspect. The suspect then retreated inside the residence.
“The Cobb County Police SWAT Team was called in to safely bring about a conclusion to this incident. At about 12:15 am on January 2, 2023, the suspect was taken into custody. The suspect received a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the shoulder.
“The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been notified and will assume the investigation into the officer-involved shooting. Any further information regarding the officer-involved shooting will come from their office.“
The GBI’s role in officer-involved shootings
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.
