Days after someone riddled a Douglas County deputy sheriff's home with bullets, the reward to help catch the shooter has increased, the sheriff's office said Wednesday.
The original reward of $10,000, which was posted by the Douglas sheriff’s office, has grown to $20,000, Sheriff Phil Miller said Wednesday.
Douglasville police Chief Gary Sparks has contributed $5,000, and Larry Watson of the Watson Foundation committed $2,500, Miller said. Contributions from anonymous donors total $2,500, sheriff’s Lt. Glenn Daniel said.
Also, Miller said the original reward deadline of Dec. 31, which is when Miller will leave office, no longer applies. He said both candidates to succeed him guaranteed that the reward money would be paid after that.
The shooting happened Monday night in Paulding County, where the deputy lives. He and his family weren’t home at the time and no one was injured. However, one of the bullets landed in a bed inside the home, Miller said.
“Whoever shot at that deputy’s house probably knew that it was a deputy, for a very simple reason,” he told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday. “His marked patrol car was sitting in the yard.”
The incident comes amid growing tension between police and citizens nationwide. Separate incidents in July claimed the lives of three officers in Baton Rouge, La., and five officers in Dallas.
“Killing cops is not the way to get your message across,” Miller said. “If we’re going to succeed in this country, it’s got to be together, not apart.”
Anyone with information about the local shooting is asked to contact the Douglas or Paulding sheriff’s offices.
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