Wounded Carrollton police Officer Sgt. Rob Holloway was home just 24 hours before concerns about his recovery sent him back to intensive care.
Holloway was welcomed back to Carrollton to great fanfare Wednesday after three months of rehabilitation for a brain injury at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center. He was one of three west Georgia officers wounded April 12 in a deadly and chaotic shootout with two cousins following a high-speed chase on I-20.
On Wednesday morning, a police escort led Holloway from the Shepherd Center to Adamson Square in Carrollton, where he was met by a crowd of cheering supporters carrying signs and waving flags. By Thursday evening, he had been admitted back into the intensive care unit at Shepherd.
Credit: Carrollton Police Department
Credit: Carrollton Police Department
“Rob started running a fever on Thursday, and I didn’t want to take any chances,” his wife, Stephanie Holloway, said on a CaringBridge page set up to chronicle his recovery. “So, I called his medical team at Shepherd and they were able to get us back admitted here. He’s been in ICU since Thursday evening at Shepherd receiving fluids and antibiotics while they run additional tests.”
The officer’s fever was gone as of Saturday, and his wife said he is feeling better already. She thanked the Carrollton Police Department and the community for celebrating his progress, despite the setback.
“It was the best 24 hours we have had in a long time, and we were beyond blessed by the overwhelming display of love and support,” she said. “We love you and appreciate your continued prayers.”
Holloway was the first officer down when a chase initiated by the Georgia State Patrol crossed into Carroll County. According to the GSP, a trooper first tried to pull over a Nissan Sentra on I-20 after clocking it at 111 mph, but the Nissan sped off. An attempt to disable the car with a PIT maneuver was also unsuccessful.
As the chase entered Carroll and was joined by local authorities, a passenger leaned out of the Nissan’s window and fired multiple rounds at the pursuing officers with a rifle, GBI officials said. Holloway was injured by the gunfire but continued his pursuit, the agency said. He later crashed into a pole.
The Nissan eventually crashed near an elementary school in Villa Rica, and two men ran away from the vehicle. At some point, officers located them and a gunfight ensued, injuring Villa Rica police Officer Chase Gordy.
Carroll County Deputy Jay Repetto was the third officer struck when he and partner Cpl. Jamison Troutt went to help Gordy. Officers returned fire and killed 28-year-old Pier Alexander Shelton of Birmingham, Alabama, who was shown on dash camera video unloading an assault rifle into the windshield of Repetto’s and Troutt’s patrol car.
The GBI, which is still investigating the use of deadly force, has not said who fired the shot that killed him.
His cousin and passenger, Aaron Jajuan Shelton, 22, also of Birmingham, was arrested and charged with five counts of aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated battery. He is being held at the Carroll jail without bond.
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