A security guard said he thought the person banging on his car door while he was trying to sleep was a robber — not an officer investigating a suspicious person call.
Joshua Mapson, 22, was shot 3:20 a.m. Monday outside a Dollar General store in the 4700 block of Ga. 166 by a Carroll County officer, the GBI told the AJC earlier this week.
Mapson said he was working a shift for a production company when he pulled into the store’s parking lot to get some shuteye, Channel 2 Action News reported.
That’s when 26-year-old Carroll County officer Tyler North woke Mapson up, startling him.
Dashcam video obtained by Channel 2 shows Mapson pulling off and North opening fire on the car. One of the bullets hit Mapson in the hand.
“It was terrifying,” he told the news station. “…My mind was in shock.”
Mapson told North he never heard his commands.
“Had I known it was an officer, from the beginning that’s what it would’ve been: total compliance,” he said.
Mapson’s attorney Jackie Patterson said the loitering and reckless conduct charges should be dropped against his client.
Patterson said the shooting was excessive and that his client could’ve died from it.
“There was no threat to this officer whatsoever,” he told Channel 2.
Mapson said he’s thankful to be alive: “At the end of the day, that could’ve been my life.”
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