GBI looking into 2 officer-involved shootings

♦ The incidents happened in Walker and Paulding counties.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into two officer-involved shootings this week in Northwest Georgia.

Spokesperson Nellie Miles said Thursday that the shootings in Walker and Paulding counties bring to 62 the number of cases handed over to GBI agents this year. Both involved men named Harris who reportedly attacked officers responding to 911 calls — one with a gun and the other with a sword.

According to the agency’s media releases:

Jack Lamar Harris, 60, of Chickamauga was shot dead Wednesday morning when he pointed a gun at officers responding to a domestic dispute.

Walker County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Lookout Mountain Drug Task

Force agents had responded to a call from a woman asking for help. Preliminary information indicates she’d been beaten and held against her will.

Deputy Justin Henry, DTF Commander Dewayne Brown, and DTF Agent Robbie Tate made their way towards the back door of the residence. Harris came out but ignored their commands to show his hands. He went back inside and came out again with a black handgun.

As officers were ordering Harris to drop the weapon, he raised it and pointed it at them. They fired multiple times and Harris was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman was taken to CHI Memorial Hospital in Fort Oglethorpe for treatment of nonlife threatening injuries. No officers were injured during the incident.

When the investigation is complete, the case will be turned over to the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.

The Paulding County incident happened later that same day at a residence in Douglasville.

Preliminary information indicates Paulding County deputies were called to the home of Richard Jeanpaul Harris, 41, after he got into a fight with a neighbor and she shot him.

Finding “a tremendous amount of blood outside and leading into the residence, deputies entered to find Harris wounded. They and EMS personnel tried to treat him but he picked up a sword and attacked them.

Harris was tased by Deputy Carl Brown but continued to advance with the sword. Deputy Allen Perry shot Harris, who was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Harris’ condition was unknown Thursday.

No officers were injured and the completed investigation will be turned over to the Paulding County District Attorney’s Office for review.

This is the 62nd officer involved shooting that the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2020.