The GBI is investigating a deadly shooting Sunday night involving a Newnan police officer and a Cumming man suspected in a domestic violence incident.
The man, identified by the GBI as Sean Michael Kinney, 37, was shot multiple times and killed by the officer when he saw the suspect walking toward a woman with a knife in his hand, according to the state agency. It is the seventh officer-involved shooting the GBI has investigated this year and the second within 24 hours.
Newnan police were called to a home on Second Avenue shortly before 5:30 p.m. after a neighbor reported a domestic incident, the GBI said in a news release. No one came to the door, but officers were able to run the tag of a car in the driveway and identify its owner, a woman whose name was not released.
“Officers called the woman but there was no answer,” GBI spokesperson Nelly Miles said in the release. “The Newnan Police Department SWAT team and hostage negotiators were activated, a perimeter was secured around the residence, and numerous attempts were made to talk with the individuals with no success.”
The SWAT team approached the home shortly before 7 p.m. and prepared to make entry. While still outside, a Newnan police officer looked through a window and saw Kinney armed with a knife, Miles said.
“The officer then saw a door open behind Kinney with the woman sitting on the ground,” she said. “Kinney turned and started walking toward the woman with the knife in his hand, and the officer fired numerous times through the window, killing Kinney. The woman was found safe and physically unharmed.”
The relationship between Kinney and the woman was not disclosed. Once the GBI’s investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
According to Georgia Department of Corrections records, Kinney was released from prison on parole in February 2019. He spent more than six years in prison after being convicted of robbery by force, burglary and assault in Forsyth County.
Earlier Sunday, the state agency was asked by the Atlanta Police Department to investigate an officer-involved shooting in its jurisdiction.
According to the GBI, a Fulton County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man after the deputy returned to his Springside Drive home and found the man walking away “carrying tools and other items.” The deputy, who was still wearing his uniform and equipment, had received an alert from his security camera minutes earlier that appeared to show a break-in, a GBI official said in a news release.
“The deputy followed the man as he walked away along an unpaved, gravel road,” spokesperson Natalie Ammons said. “The man stepped off the road into some woods as the deputy approached. The deputy got out of his car and found the man in the woods. While in the woods, the deputy and man had an altercation, and during this time the deputy shot the man.”
Atlanta police responded and said they found the deputy performing CPR on the man, whose name was not released. He died after being taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. The deputy had a minor ankle injury, according to the GBI.
“The backdoor of the deputy’s home had been kicked in and the items found in the woods had been taken from his home,” Ammons said in the release.
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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