Family seeks answers after N. Ga. pastor killed in drug sting

By Christian Boone and Katie Leslie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Family and friends of a Lavonia minister gunned down Tuesday by an undercover police officer continue to look for answers about how he died.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said Jonathan Ayers, 29, was not the target of their sting operation and that authorities were looking for a woman they say Ayers dropped off minutes before the shooting. That woman, whose name has not been released, had been charged with cocaine possession and distribution, he said.

Ayers’ family maintains he was not involved in illegal drug activity.

“He is one of the Godliest men I’ve ever known,” his brother-in-law Matt Carpenter told AccessNorthGa.com. “We’re all shocked and absolutely do not believe he was involved in anything illicit or illegal there.”

Carpenter also told AccessNorthGa.com that the family was first informed Ayers died in a traffic accident, and then that he had been shot. Hours later, they learned he died in an officer-involved shooting.

Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers dropped off the sting suspect in downtown Toccoa around 2:30 p.m. and that two agents from the joint task force -- composed of officers from Stephens, Habersham and Rabun counties -- followed the pastor and attempted to question him.

WNEG-TV has surveillance video showing Ayers casually entering a Shell convenience store in Toccoa around 2:30 p.m.

According to that video, a black SUV carrying undercover officers pulls into the parking lot after Ayers left the store.

The pastor tried to avoid them, Shirley said Wednesday, striking one of the agents after putting his car in reverse.

“They yelled, ‘Police. Stop,’” Shirley said.

Witnesses to the incident also said the officers identified themselves, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.

Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers maneuvered his car towards another agent in a “threatening manner.” However, that is unclear from the video.

Shirley first said that one shot was fired by one of the three agents on the scene, striking the pastor in the upper torso. WNEG-TV reports that Shirley said the agent fired two shots into the car.

Ayers drove off before losing control of the vehicle a block away, striking a telephone pole, Shirley said.

Ayers was pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia. On his blog, he wrote, “I have three loves in my life: Jesus Christ, my wife Abby, and the Church.”

The couple was expecting their first child.

Shirley would not reveal the identity of the woman arrested in the sting. The agent struck by the pastor’s vehicle was treated and released from a local hospital, Shirley said.

“Jonathan would have wanted to witness to the police officers involved in the shooting,” his family said in a statement.

The GBI is investigating the shooting. The task force agents involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay, Shirley said.