GBI: Deputy shot and killed man who got out of vehicle with gun

A Habersham County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man during a traffic stop Sunday. (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

A Habersham County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man during a traffic stop Sunday. (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

A man killed Sunday by a Georgia sheriff’s deputy was shot after he got out of his vehicle with a gun, according to the GBI.

That was one of the new details that emerged overnight, hours after the 50th officer-involved shooting in Georgia this year.

About 9:20 a.m., an unidentified Habersham County sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle on Rosewood Drive near the intersection with Ga. 15, GBI spokesman Mike Walsingham said. Christopher Collins, 24, of Cleveland, Ga., was the behind the wheel.

Authorities had been looking for him and the vehicle after an aggravated assault involving a gun in White County and an attempted carjacking involving a firearm in Toccoa earlier that morning, Walsingham said.

According to the GBI, the deputy repeatedly asked Collins to show his hands. Collins, authorities said, refused and emerged from the vehicle with the gun.

“The deputy fired his duty weapon at Collins, striking him,” Walsingham said.

Collins died on the scene. No officers were injured in the incident.

The GBI is handling the investigation, which is standard protocol in use-of-force cases.

Last year, officers shot 77 people, killing 24 of them. The 2017 rate means the state will likely match 2016 numbers, according to numbers provided by the GBI.

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