DeKalb officer involved in Kevin Davis shooting: 'It was him or me'

By Christian Boone, ajc.com Staff Writer

The officer who shot a man after he had called 911 for help told a DeKalb County grand jury Tuesday that he feared for his own life.

“It was him or me,” said Officer Joseph Pitts, according to Mawuli Davis, the attorney for the Davis family, who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Members of the media are barred from attending grand jury sessions.

Kevin Davis died on New Year’s Eve 2014, two days after he was shot by Pitts. Davis, 44, had called 911 to report that his girlfriend, April Edwards, had been stabbed by a roommate, who had fled the apartment. He remained on the line, seeking instructions on how to treat her injuries, when he heard gunshots outside his door, Edwards said in a press conference last February.

Pitts had shot Davis’ dog. Davis, who had not been told that police had arrived, retrieved his gun and went to the door of his apartment to investigate.

Prosecutors told the grand jury 16 seconds elapsed between the shooting of the dog and Davis.

Mawuli Davis said that confirms there was not ample time given to Davis to drop his weapon, as Pitts had ordered. The family and their attorney were allowed to witness the proceedings Tuesday.

The complete story will be posted later this afternoon on myajc.com.