Separate domestic incidents that took place on the same day in LaGrange and Albany both ended with police shootings, according to the GBI.
In Albany, a man suspected of assaulting his mother with a gun barricaded himself inside a home and exchanged gunfire with police early Wednesday morning, the GBI said. The incident resulted in no injuries and ended when the man was found hiding in a closet and was arrested.
Later Wednesday, a husband and wife in LaGrange were both injured after police say the man threatened the woman at knifepoint and hit her with an SUV before he was shot by officers.
Officers were called to a home on Moores Hill after getting reports of a man with a weapon shortly before 11 a.m., LaGrange police said in a news release. Before they arrived, 911 dispatch told them a man at the scene had forced his wife into the SUV at knifepoint.
The man, identified as 32-year-old Reginald Lamar Saffold, was in the SUV with his wife when officers arrived, police said. The officers began negotiating with Saffold, who was in the driver’s seat, and as they spoke, the woman got out of the car and tried to run away.
As she fled, Saffold accelerated the car and hit her, police said. The car dragged the woman as it left the street and continued down an embankment, according to the news release. The three officers at the scene fired multiple shots at the car as they tried to stop it.
When the car stopped, police said the officers were able to pull the woman to safety from the bottom of the embankment. They continued to talk with Saffold, who revved the car’s engine, and ordered him out of the vehicle.
“Receiving no response, officers approached the vehicle and determined that Reginald Saffold had been struck by officers’ gunfire,” a police spokesperson said in the release.
Both Saffold and his wife were treated by emergency medical personnel at the scene and taken to nearby Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center before being transferred to a Columbus hospital for further care, according to police. Details about the nature of their injuries were not provided.
Saffold is facing charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping, with all counts enhanced under the Family Violence Act, once he is released from the hospital, police said.
The LaGrange Police Department said it will perform an administrative investigation and has requested the GBI to conduct an independent investigation into the shooting.
The earlier incident in Albany began just before 1:30 a.m., the GBI said. Albany police were called to a home on Montego Court in response to a domestic disturbance. At the home, officers made contact with 36-year-old Richard Lee Hunter Jr.
Hunter yelled at the officers from inside the home and fired multiple gunshots at them, the GBI said. One officer returned fire, leading Hunter to retreat into the house and barricade himself inside.
A SWAT unit responded and tried to negotiate with Hunter, according to the GBI. When that failed, they tried using non-lethal chemicals to force him out of the house. Finally, SWAT officers entered the home and found Hunter hiding in a closet inside.
After being taken into custody, Hunter was booked into the Dougherty County jail where he remains without bond. According to online jail records, Hunter is charged with one count of aggravated assault against a peace officer.
The investigations are the GBI’s 76th and 77th officer-involved shootings to investigate this year.
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