A Houston County deputy shot at a man with former military and bomb disposal experience after he opened fire in the direction of a GBI bomb robot during a standoff Tuesday, state officials said.
No one was injured in the exchange of gunfire, which is being investigated by the GBI at the request of the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office responded just before 8 a.m. to a 911 call about a man, identified as 41-year-old Jacob Baily, who was making threatening and suicidal statements in front of family members at his friend’s property in Warner Robins, according to the GBI.
When deputies arrived, Baily barricaded himself inside a camper on the property, located in the 400 block of Smithville Church Road. He is not from Georgia and was living in the camper for just a few weeks, the state agency said.
Due to Baily’s background, the GBI Bomb Disposal Unit responded to the scene while sheriff’s negotiators tried to get him to surrender. The robot approached the camper during those talks, but Baily opened the front door and fired several shots in its direction, a GBI spokesperson said.
Deputies and members of the sheriff’s special response team “were near the robot and a deputy returned fire,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Baily retreated back inside the camper and was not injured.
The special response team eventually entered and apprehended Baily, who was taken to a hospital for examination and then to the county detention center.
The GBI is investigating the incident as the 56th officer-involved shooting this year and will turn its findings over to the Houston Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
The 57th such shooting happened Wednesday, when a man was shot by Douglas County deputies after threatening family members with a gun and shooting at law enforcement, according to the GBI.
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