The GBI is investigating after an armed robbery suspect in Middle Georgia was shot and killed by law enforcement officers Wednesday night.
Deputies in Crawford County received a tip that Kevin Mark Soles, 37, who was wanted in connection with a robbery in Bibb County, was at a residence in Byron, the GBI said in a news release. When they arrived in the 400 block of Jordan Road, deputies said the man ran into a wooded area behind the house.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office requested help from police in Byron and deputies in Peach and Bibb counties to locate the suspect. When Soles was eventually found in the woods, officers noted he had a gun in his hand, the GBI said.
They spent the next several hours trying to negotiate with the man to surrender, including firing less-lethal rounds at him. At one point, the GBI said Soles pointed his gun at officers. They returned fire, striking Soles. The GBI did not specify which law enforcement agency fired the fatal shot.
He was taken to a Macon hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A handgun was recovered at the scene, according to the GBI.
No officers were injured.
Byron is about 90 miles south of downtown Atlanta, near Macon and Warner Robins.
This is the 86th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year and the second in less than 24 hours.
A gunman in LaGrange was found dead in his home early Wednesday after a 17-hour standoff with SWAT teams, the GBI said. Brian Jessee, 39, barricaded himself inside after police tried to serve him with a warrant, according to LaGrange police. After a night of back-and-forth gunfire between law enforcement and Jessee, a fire broke out in the home, authorities said. His remains were discovered inside. No officers were injured during the standoff.
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.
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