A Georgia Department of Natural Resources game warden fatally shot a man who ran at them with a knife at an intersection in Middle Georgia on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
A homeowner contacted game wardens and said Dante Romearo Smith, 28, was trespassing on their property on Brent Road, a rural area in Lamar County filled with farmland and cow pastures, the GBI said.
When the wardens responded, they found Smith, of Bowdon, at the intersection of Brent Road and U.S. 341 near Barnesville. Smith, who had a knife in his hand, ran toward one of the wardens, according to the state agency.
“As Smith got close to the game warden, the game warden shot Smith,” the GBI said.
It was the second fatal shooting involving a Georgia game warden since the agency’s new reporting system was implemented in 2010.
“While additional incidents occurred since DNR LED (law enforcement division) was established and prior to 2010, a new reporting system was implemented that year, and our current reporting data is only available from that point forward,” spokesperson Haley Chafin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Chafin said the reporting system doesn’t track the number of times game wardens have responded to incidents involving gunfire, so accurate statistics were unavailable.
No wardens were injured during Tuesday’s incident, officials said. Smith’s body will be taken to the GBI Crime Lab, where his autopsy will be performed.
The area of Lamar County is about 60 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.
After the GBI investigation is completed, the case file will be given to the Towaliga Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
The incident marked the 37th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate in 2025, and the second one Tuesday. At the same time last year, the state agency had looked into 41 such shootings.
In the other incident, a 19-year-old man is accused of pointing a gun at DeKalb County police and exchanging gunfire with Avondale Estates police before crashing his car during a pursuit on I-285.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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