GBI ID’s man who hit officer with wooden stick before being shot, killed in Roswell

A Roswell police officer fired on a man inside a gas station Thursday morning after the man allegedly beat him with a wooden stick, authorities said.

Olivio Sandoval Diaz, 47, was killed and the officer sustained injuries to his arm. The GBI is investigating the officer-involved shooting, the 41st such investigation the agency has opened in 2019.

The officer first encountered the man around 8:30 a.m. when he went inside the Food Mart at the Shell gas station at 890 Atlanta Street to make a purchase, according to the GBI. Diaz, who was holding a long wooden stick, was being confronted by a cashier after he allegedly failed to pay for an item.

At some point, Diaz began to attack the officer, prompting the officer to use his Taser, the GBI said. The stun gun was unsuccessful, and the man continued to strike the officer several times with the stick.

The officer then pulled out his gun and shot Diaz.

Both the officer and Diaz were taken to WellStar North Fulton Hospital, where Diaz later died. The officer is expected to be OK.

The deadly incident was the fourth officer-involved shooting since Sunday the GBI was asked to investigate.

Early Sunday morning, a man was shot and critically injured by Coweta County deputies after a police chase and car wreck. After body camera footage of the incident was released, the sheriff defended his deputies’ actions, but an attorney for the man’s family called it an “unjustified use of excessive force.”

MORE: Coweta County sheriff defends deputy's shooting after seeing body camera footage

On Monday, Athens-Clarke County police officers shot and killed a man seen on video holding a butcher knife and drenched in his own blood. Officers were heard pleading with the man before the fatal shooting.

MORE: Video shows Athens officers plead with knife-wielding man before fatal shooting

Then, on Wednesday, officers in South Georgia returned fire after a man shot at them with a deer rifle. The man, who is from Moultrie, was stable Thursday and recovering at a Tallahassee hospital. No officers were injured in that incident, according to the GBI.

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.

— Staff writer Chelsea Prince contributed to this article.