A man was arrested after an 8-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at a Fayette County home Saturday afternoon, according to authorities.
Fayette sheriff’s deputies were called to the home on Hickory Avenue just outside Fayetteville about a person being shot around 1:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found the boy with what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. It was later determined that the child was struck by “a projectile that traveled through an interior wall.”
As deputies rendered aid to the victim, they heard what they believed was a single gunshot inside the home, the statement read. Deputies immediately moved the boy and family members to safety and learned that 29-year-old Spencer Dylan Harris, who allegedly fired the initial shot, was the only person left inside the house.
The sheriff’s office SWAT team and negotiators were called in, and the child, who was described as alert and talking to first responders, was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston Hospital, according to the statement.
Harris was eventually taken into custody after a robot was deployed by the SWAT team to locate him following multiple failed attempts to make contact, authorities said.
Investigators later learned that an earlier altercation resulted in Harris discharging a firearm, after which a family member wrestled the weapon from him, the sheriff’s office said. Harris then grabbed another firearm, which is when the family escaped, authorities said.
Harris faces an aggravated assault charge and was taken to the Fayette County jail.
