Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison said he will meet with District Attorney Garry Moss on Tuesday to discuss what, if any, action the DA will take over a 2,000-page GBI report into the shooting death last month of 16-year old Andrew Messina by a sheriff's sniper.
The GBI gave the DA and the sheriff’s office the report May 29. Last week, Moss said he was still reviewing it. On Monday, he declined to comment on whether he is pursuing the case or will present it to the grand jury. Garrison said Monday that he is eager for the DA to make a decision.
Preliminary findings by the sheriff's office's internal affairs unit indicated “no inconsistencies with our policies” in the way deputies handled the incident, said Garrison, who first initiated a follow-up meeting with the DA last week, according to Moss.
“I’m hopeful the DA will make a decision tomorrow on what direction to take,” said Garrison, whose own interpretation of the GBI report is "they did not indicate there were any criminal violations."
Messina, a sophomore at Etowah High School, was shot May 1 after his mother made a 911 call saying that her son was threatening to kill her with a .357 Magnum revolver. Deputies arrived at the Laurel Crest Drive home, in the Eagle Watch subdivision, and safely removed the woman from the home.
But Messina barricaded himself inside, and hostage and SWAT teams were called to the residence.
"Negotiators, who had worked their way very close to the front door, witnessed the suspect pouring alcohol on the curtains inside the home and heard him threaten to burn the home," sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Jay Baker said in a press release.
After an hour of negotiations, the suspect either shot through the glass on the front door or used the gun to break the glass, and a sheriff's sniper shot Messina to protect the negotiators, according to Baker. Messina was shot in the abdomen and transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, where he was pronounced dead.
Garrison has declined to identify the deputy who shot Messina. He has been placed on routine administrative leave until the investigation is completed.
The Messina family could not be reached for comment Monday.
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