A man who violated a restraining order by allegedly visiting his family’s home Saturday morning and trying to shoot his way inside was later shot by a Cherokee County deputy at a restaurant, according to authorities who said the man had a gun and reached for it.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said agency officials have requested that the GBI investigate the shooting.
Cherokee deputies responded to the domestic disturbance call around 11 a.m. at a Meadowbrook Lane residence in Woodstock. A man, later identified by the GBI as 67-year-old Mark Allen, was there despite having an active temporary protective order that prohibited him from being on the property.
Deputies said the man fired several shots at the lock on the home’s front door while his wife and daughter were inside. He did not manage to get inside the house and no one was injured.
The suspect was gone by the time officers arrived at the house. Deputies issued a lookout bulletin for him and an officer spotted the man parked at a Red Lobster along Riverstone Parkway in Canton.
The suspect reached for a gun as the deputy approached him, Baker said in a statement. The officer responded by shooting the suspect, critically injuring him, according to the GBI.
The GBI will conduct its independent investigation, and upon completion the case will be given to the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
It is the 72nd officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year. 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.
