The GBI was called to investigate four shootings involving law enforcement officers over the weekend — two of which ended in deaths.
The first of the incidents occurred about 4 a.m. Friday at a prison in Sumter County, according to GBI spokesman Terry Howard.
Investigators at the Sumter County Correctional Institute on McMath Mill Road were “conducting a surveillance operation” that centered on illegal contraband being brought into the prison, Howard said.
“It was during this operation that a correctional officer encountered an inmate that led to a struggle between the inmate and the officer,” Howard said. The officer fired several times during the struggle, and the inmate was injured.
The inmate was taken to the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, officials said. He has since been released from the hospital and taken back to the prison, according to the GBI.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office requested the GBI’s assistance Friday evening regarding an incident at a home in Adel, the agency said in a news release.
Cook deputies were sent to the home in the 1900 block of Boone Road shortly before 10 p.m.
Someone had reported gunshots in the area, officials said.
When the deputies arrived, one of them met with 67-year-old Roy Joiner.
“Joiner had a gun and exchanged gunfire with the deputy, which resulted in Joiner’s death,” the GBI said. No other details about the shooting were released.
Investigators said deputies had been sent to the house earlier that night after it was reported Joiner was threatening people with a knife. Arrest warrants were being prepared for Joiner when the second call came in, according to the GBI.
Less than two hours after the shooting in Cook County, GBI investigators were contacted by the Atlanta Police Department, according to spokeswoman Natalie Ammons.
Ammons said an Atlanta police officer had conducted a traffic stop on a car with a drive-out tag in the 100 block of Boulevard NE about 11:35 p.m.
During the stop, a passenger later identified as 24-year-old Byron McNeal of Hoover, Alabama, got out of the car with a gun, Ammons said.
An officer fired at McNeal, striking him. McNeal was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he is stable.
Saturday evening, the GBI was requested by the Hogansville Police Department in Troup County, spokesman Jeremy Dockins said.
Dockins said Hogansville police were sent to a home on Lincoln Street about 9:30 p.m. to respond to a noise complaint.
When they arrived, they tried to contact the homeowner, 61-year-old Faron Morris Hammond, Dockins said. The officers were not able to get in touch with him and left the home a short time later, he said.
Just 10 minutes later, a second 911 call from a different caller came in regarding the Lincoln Street home. Officers were sent to the scene again, where they found Hammond, Dockins said.
The officers spoke with Hammond through the door, and Hammond fired at the officers one time with a 12-gauge shotgun. One of the officers was struck, Dockins said.
The officers returned fire, striking and killing Hammond inside the home.
The officer was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
No officers were injured in any of the other shootings, according to the GBI. All of the incidents remain under investigation.
So far in 2020, the GBI has opened 34 investigations into officer-involved shootings.
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.
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