GBI: Suspect became combative; both sides started shooting
LOCUST GROVE, Ga. — As police tried to serve an arrest warrant at a home outside of Atlanta, the criminal suspect became combative and both sides started shooting, resulting in the death of an officer and the suspect, authorities said.
Locust Grove Police Officer Chase Maddox died of a gunshot wound to the head Friday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement, citing results of an autopsy conducted Saturday.
The autopsy showed Maddox, 26, had been shot three times.
The suspect, Tierre Guthrie, 39, also died. An autopsy showed that he was shot four times, with two wounds to the chest.
Two Henry County sheriff’s deputies were wounded.
One was released from the hospital and a second was in stable condition after surgery.
Gunfire broke out as the officers were serving an arrest warrant at Guthrie’s home in Locust Grove, about 40 miles southeast of Atlanta, the GBI said. Guthrie was wanted for failing to appear in court for traffic violations.
“Guthrie became combative and escalated the situation,” the agency said in a statement late Friday night.
The deputies called Locust Grove police for backup, and Maddox arrived within minutes. “A fight ensued resulting in Guthrie and the officers firing their weapons,” the GBI said.
Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer wouldn’t say on Friday who fired first.
The death of Maddox, who had been with the department since he was 22, and the deputies’ wounding, have left residents of this city of about 6,000 people in shock.
The fallen officer’s wife is expecting the couple’s second baby.
“We just need a lot of prayers for (him) and his wife and the baby that’s coming into this world without a daddy because of somebody ...” Locust Grove Mayor Robert Price said, choking up during an interview Friday.
The GBI identified the wounded deputies as Michael D. Corley and Ralph Sidwell “Sid” Callaway. Bureau spokeswoman Nelly Miles said Corley had been released from the hospital and Callaway was in stable condition Friday night after surgery.
Miles referred questions about his condition Saturday to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, which didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message.
Guthrie’s neighbor told WSB-TV that he was a father of three young boys and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
Dory Kissner, who lives across the street, said she was the one who called 911.
“I looked out the window and saw (one of the officers) running away going, ‘Ouch, ouch, ouch,’ and feeling himself for wounds,” Kissner said.
She said none of the three children inside the house was injured.