A South Georgia sheriff’s deputy injured in the line of duty last week is headed back to a hospital Wednesday for additional surgery.
Deputy Robert Owens of the Tift County Sheriff’s Office was scheduled to undergo surgery to repair joint and nerve damage in his hand, according to his wife. He was shot three times Friday morning after responding to a neighborhood in the Eldorado community to check out a report of two men knocking on doors.
“Deputies located the men and attempted to identify them,” GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a news release. “During the incident, one of the men fired shots at a deputy, striking the deputy multiple times. Another deputy returned fire, striking the man.”
Both Owens and the alleged gunman, later identified as 40-year-old Justin Freeman of North Carolina, were seriously injured and taken to a hospital. Owens was released Monday after having surgery on his hip, and Freeman remains hospitalized.
The second man, whose name was not released, was taken into custody at the shooting scene. The GBI is still looking into the officer-involved shooting, the 36th such incident the agency has been asked to investigate this year.
In Facebook updates shared by the sheriff’s office, Nellie Owens said a bullet was lodged in her husband’s hip and doctors attached a metal rod to his femur. The couple share a young daughter.
“Those of you who know Robert, know that he has a heart of gold and a beautiful spirit, and would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it (including the man who shot him three times),” she said in one update. “But for those of you who really know Robert, y’all know he’s like a cat with nine lives!”
Her husband is “a fighter” with a few good lives left, she said, and she expected him to pull through “stronger than ever.”
A GoFundMe page created to help the family with medical bills had raised more than $5,000 of its $20,000 goal as of Wednesday.
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