An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday charging a 21-year-old man with three felonies in the fatal shooting of the brother of a Carroll County sheriff’s deputy.
Zachary Sibley is charged with involuntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and tampering with evidence. The charges were upgraded from the initial charges of aggravated assault and reckless conduct after Cullie Mitchell Denney, 21, died Tuesday of a gunshot wound to his head.
Denney was at a party Sunday at the home of a Carroll County commissioner when he was shot with a .45-caliber handgun. He died three days later at Grady Memorial Hospital, Georgia Bureau Investigation spokesman John Bankhead told the AJC.
Sibley made his first appearance in Carroll Superior Court on Monday. He did not request bail, according to assistant district attorney Jeff Hunt, and was charged at the time with
He remains in the Carroll County jail.
The shooting occurred at a party thrown by District 5 Commissioner Kevin Jackson’s son at the family’s home in Whitesburg. Jackson was out of town.
Witnesses said Sibley had pointed the gun at the victim’s head before it went off.
Immediately after the shooting, Sibley told Jackson’s son he would take Denney to Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton, Bankhead said. Instead, he allegedly left Denney in some woods off Lake Seaton near Hutchinson Ferry and Cross Plains roads, and then returned to the party.
Carroll County deputies had already been dispatched to the scene after Jackson's son placed a 911 call. Sibley eventually acknowledged what he had done, leading deputies to Denney about four hours after the shooting, Bankhead said.
Denney was immediately airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital.
The GBI took over the case because Denney's brother is a Carroll deputy and there could be a perceived conflict if the Sheriff's Office investigated.
--Ty Tagami and Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.
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