A 19-year-old was killed after a South Georgia police officer shot him Saturday morning, according to the GBI.
Jakerion Shmoud Jackson was pronounced dead at a hospital following the shooting in Sylvester, which is in Worth County, officials said.
The incident began with an early morning traffic stop, according to GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles.
A Sylvester police officer tried to pull someone over about 2:30 a.m., leading to a brief car chase, Miles said in a statement. The chase ended when the driver got out of the vehicle and ran toward an area along Franklin Street.
About three hours later, multiple 911 calls came in reporting “a suspicious person that matched the description of the subject from the earlier car chase," Miles said. He was reportedly in the same area where the person involved in the car chase was last seen.
A police officer spotted Jackson, Miles said.
“This encounter led to the officer discharging his firearm, resulting in Jackson being struck,” she said.
No other information was released on what led to the gunshots.
The incident is the 81st shooting involving a law enforcement officer that the GBI has been asked to investigate this year, Miles said. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
About the Author
