Georgia deputy shoots ‘paranoid’ man after threat

A Whitfield County deputy shot a man early Friday after he allegedly made a threat.

A Whitfield County deputy shot a man early Friday after he allegedly made a threat.

A deputy in Whitfield County shot a man early Friday after he threatened authorities with an object, according to a report.

About 1:53 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a man who was acting “paranoid,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. The caller was a woman who said her husband was off his medications and acting strange.

The man also had a machete and a hammer, the woman told deputies.

When deputies arrived, the man walked out of the front door of the home and waved an object aggressively at them, the newspaper reported.

Officers told the man several times to drop the object, but he refused, and a deputy shot him once in the shoulder, the Times Free Press reported.

The man was taken to a hospital for what appeared to be a minor wound.

It was not clear what the object was that the man waved at deputies. No identities were available.

The GBI has been asked to investigate the shooting, spokesman Bahan Rich said. This makes 32 such shootings that the GBI has investigated this year.

Read more of the story here.

In other news: