A man suspected of killing a woman in Chattooga County on Christmas Eve was fatally shot by law enforcement officers after he charged at them with a knife, the GBI said.
John Wayne Siffles, 44, of Summerville, suffered multiple gunshot wounds during the encounter and was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, the GBI said in a statement Tuesday. Siffles was wanted on a murder charge related to the death of a woman whose body was found in Chattoogaville earlier on Dec. 24.
The state agency did not publicly identify the murder victim.
The GBI said it opened an investigation into Siffles’ shooting at the request of the Chattooga sheriff’s office. Multiple agencies were involved in the search for Siffles, and a search warrant was executed on his home by agents in the Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force and Summerville police officers.
When officers entered Siffles’ home on Highland Avenue, about a block away from North Summerville Elementary School, they found the suspect holding a knife, the GBI said. Officers commanded Siffles to drop the knife multiple times and fired a Taser at him, but he refused to drop the weapon. Siffles then charged the officers and was shot several times.
Officers immediately provided first aid until Siffles could be taken to the hospital, but he did not survive.
The GBI will conduct an independent investigation into the shooting, and Siffles’ body will be taken to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.
This is the 102nd shooting involving law enforcement that the GBI has investigated this year. The state agency investigated 112 such shootings in 2022.
About the Author
