A man has been charged with aggravated battery after a Newnan pastor was attacked in November, authorities confirmed.
Levi William Beyer, 37, is accused of headbutting Tamarkus Cook, 31, on a property near St. Smyrna Baptist Church, where Cook is the pastor, AJC.com previously reported.
RELATED: Newnan pastor needed 13 stitches after being headbutted by church property trespasser
After the Nov. 28 incident, Cook told a Coweta County deputy that he owned the property in the 100 block of Henry Road and tried to confront a trespasser.
Beyer, the alleged trespasser, is then accused of headbutting Cook, causing him to suffer a cut under and above his right eye, the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office’s incident report said. Cook then pulled out a Tarus .380 handgun and fired two or three rounds in the air to scare off his attacker.
Cook told Channel 2 Action News shortly after that he needed 13 stitches around his eye, broke his nose and suffered several other facial fractures.
“He chose to charge at me like some football lineman head-first into my face,” Cook said. “I think he was attempting to kill me.”
The sheriff’s office said it identified Beyer because Cook remembered the license plate number of the truck as he drove off, Channel 2 reported. The license plate was tagged two days later by Chamblee police, allowing Coweta investigators to contact Beyer.
Beyer told deputies he was involved in the altercation but blamed Cook as the attacker. He said he arranged to meet up with another person there after scheduling an encounter on a dating app, the sheriff’s office said.
He told investigators Cook interrupted him, and he didn’t know if he was going to be robbed or hurt. However, he refused to reveal his location or turn himself in, and didn’t have any further comments on the incident.
Warrants were taken out for Beyer’s arrest in December and he turned himself in Thursday, the news station reported. He was later released on a $10,000 bond.
After the incident, Cook told Channel 2 the property will likely be demolished and turned into extra parking for the church since he’s had so many issues with people trespassing.
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