Peachtree City police chief William McCollom was calm but sometimes distracted as he told a 911 dispatcher to send help because he had accidentally shot his sleeping wife, according to the recording of the call released Friday.
McCollom said he shot his wife, who he remarried about a year ago, in the back when he moved his service weapon. McCollom called 911 around 4 a.m. New Years Day to report the shooting. His 58-year-old wife, Margaret, could be heard moaning and crying in the background.
The GBI, which is charged with reviewing police-involved shootings, will turn the findings of its investigation over to Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard when completed. Ballard said it could a week or more before he gets the GBI’s report and decides if McCollom will be charged wiht a crime.
McCollom was named interim chief in July and given the job permanently in October. He has been suspended with pay pending the results of the investigation.
He said in the call he had shot her twice — in the front and the back. A GBI spokeswoman said it was initially believe that Margaret McCollom, a nurse, was shot twice but she was actually shot only once.
The lifelong cop told the 911 operator that he was moving the gun from the bed to the nightstand when it discharged. But twice he said both he and his wife were asleep when his department-issued Glock 17 9-millimeter discharged.
The chief said only he and his wife were in the house.
Margaret McCollom remained in critical condition in an Atlanta hospital Friday.
“Gun shot wound. Accidental. Need medical ASAP,” the chief said at the beginning of the call.
The 911 operator asked several questions as an ambulance and police officers were dispatched to the house on Autumn Leaf.
“Where is the person shot at,” the dispatcher asked.
“In the back,” the chief responded.
Seconds later she asks for clarification.
“She was shot in the back and the front?” the operator asked.
“Yes. Let’s get ‘em (EMTs) here,” William McCollom said.
“She was shot twice accidentally?” the operator said.
“Yes.”
“Who shot her?”
“Me,” the chief said.
The operator asked him how the shooting happened.
“The gun was in the bed. I went to move it. I put it to the side and it went off,” William McCollom said.
Moments later, however, William McCollom said “everybody was asleep” when it happened.
He then asked his wife how she is doing.
“Having trouble breathing, dear,” William McCollom asks.
“You are with her now?” the operators asks.
“I’m the chief of police. The gun is on the dresser,” he responds.
“You’re the chief of police of Peachtree City?”
“Yes. Unfortunately.”
“This is your wife?” the operator asked.
“Yes.”
Later in the call William McCollom said: “Oh my God…how did this happen?”
William and Margaret McCollom were married 11 years until they divorced in 1999. Then William McCollom was married to another woman for 10 years, divorcing her after he moved from Florida to Peachtree City in 2012 to be the assistant police chief in the Fayette County city.
He and Margaret remarried in early 2014.
Before moving to Georgia, McCollom was police chief in Tequesta, Fla., and he spent almost 20 years at the Delray Beach Police Department.
Immediately after the shooting, McCollom was put on paid administrative leave while the GBI investigates. He is reportedly cooperating with investigators.
Staff writer Tammy Joyner contributed to this article.
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