For the second time this week, a man who died in a police-involved shooting did not have a real gun, according to the GBI.
The agency said Friday that 27-year-old Steven Hutchins of Buford had an airsoft replica pistol during the deadly confrontation early Thursday with Gwinnett County officers, GBI spokesman Brian Whidby said in a news release.
On Tuesday, Ricky Jerome Boyd, 20, had a carbon dioxide-powered BB air gun when he was fatally shot by Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police officers, according to GBI spokesman Bill Bodrey.
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Whidby said Hutchins died at the scene, which was in the 1300 block of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Someone called 911 just before 4 a.m. to report an armed man walking along Peachtree Industrial and Nelson Brogdon boulevards near the Buford and Sugar Hill areas, Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
“The 911 call was tracked to a landline telephone in Hutchins’ residence located on Gold Creek Trail in Buford,” Whidby said. “Investigators have been unable to determine the identity of the caller.”
Hutchins’ house is about 100 yards from the shooting location, Whidby said.
“A suicide note was found in Hutchins’ bedroom,” Whidby said.
The GBI will continue investigating the Gwinnett incident, which is the agency’s fifth such probe in 2018.
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