A Georgia sheriff’s sergeant shot and critically injured a man who “moved aggressively” toward him “with a large metal pipe in his hand,” officials said.
About 1 a.m. Tuesday, Pickens County sheriff’s Sgt. Travis Curran tried to make a traffic stop on eastbound Ga. 53 in Jasper, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Jasper is about 60 miles north of Atlanta.
Curran followed the car until it stopped on Lincoln Street, authorities said.
That’s when driver Gary Lee Castle got out of the car with the pipe, the sheriff’s office said.
Curran stepped back about 100 feet and repeatedly asked Castle to drop the pipe, authorities said.
“After Castle refused the commands,” the sheriff’s office said, “Sgt. Curran discharged his firearm, striking Castle.”
Castle was flown to a trauma center in Atlanta, where he is in critical but stable condition.
Curran was put on administrative leave while the GBI investigates the shooting.
In January and February of this year, the GBI conducted 17 officer-involved shooting investigations in Georgia, agency spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.
The GBI investigated 78 police-involved shootings in the state last year.
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