Cedartown woman killed by officers
Chase that began in Cave Spring ends tragically in Rome after Kimberly McCann tried to shoot down police seeking her arrest.
Events unfolded in Polk and Floyd counties last week after a woman who had run-ins with the police several times over two days saw her life come to an end following a chase, a crash and then a shootout with officers attempting to bring her into custody alive.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is involved at the request of Floyd County departments and the Georgia State Patrol after Kimberly McCann, a 55- year- old Cedartown woman, was shot and killed on May 7 at the end of a chase that started in Cave Spring.
Two incidents on the day prior on May 6 involving local police showed erratic behavior by McCann.
According to Polk County police report and 911 dispatches:
not going to get the gun ... and she just wants them off her property,” according to 911 records.
She also said they are harassing her and “Polk PD is shooting at her and her dog.”
McCann said she was going to call the Polk County Sheriff and Breeden called for a sheriff’s deputy to come and speak with McCann.
At 11:06 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy arrived and attempted to make contact with her. Polk County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Archie McKinney removed his weapon from his holster and went up to speak with McCann. McKinney came back saying McCann had “something in her hand that appeared to be a weapon but did not point it at him.”
A representative from the Veteran’s Affairs crisis line told Breeden they’d gotten a call from McCann who said “she wanted to kill herself and she had weapons and if the police came to her home she would shoot them.”
“She stated that the suspect had been diagnosed with a mental disorder and was unsure if she had been taking her meds,” Breeden wrote. The counselor told police McCann had secured the firearms in her safe and they got a safety plan to follow up with her doctor.
Dispatch checked to see if she had any arrest warrants and she did not. Breeden wrote they decided to leave the scene and let McCann calm down.
On Sunday, May 6, McCann called 911 at 10:25 a.m., to report there was a domestic disturbance across the street from her Harris Circle residence in Cedartown.
Polk County police arrived and one of the two responding officers, Sgt. Wayne Breeden, noticed McCann “was sweating and her hands were shaking.” He asked McCann if she was OK and she said she had PTSD from her service in the Air Force. The officer joked with her saying he was an Army vet.
“She smiled and told me that she did not like the Cedartown Police Department because they had admitted her to the hospital but we were OK,” Breeden wrote. He went to check on the disturbance across the street and a short time later McCann got belligerent and was “shooting the bird towards the people involved in the domestic dispute.”
Breeden asked McCann to go back to her home. She did but began yelling obscenities at the officers, so they decided to charge her with disorderly conduct. McCann fled back to her home and locked the door.
At that point McCann told police they were trespassing on her property. The officers were in the garage and she attempted to close the garage door. “I opened the door and walked out,” Breeden wrote.
During that time, McCann contacted 911 saying “the deputy was pointing a gun at her.” Throughout the conversation McCann hung up the phone and 911 responding officers attempted to contact her.
At 11:21 a.m. McCann called 911 again and said she wanted the people off her property.
“They can’t be on her property (she) just wants them off. Says they took her dog. People trying to break into her property and took her dog. Didn’t want them on her property and her dog gets ran over it is not going to be good for anybody ... (she) told them she did have a gun but she was
The second call
At that point McCann told 911 “she didn’t call us or PD and she wanted them off her property” and then hung up the phone.
“We did not see anyone but heard the dogs barking inside,” Breeden wrote. “A few seconds later we heard the suspect yell ‘who is it’?”
An officer went to the front door and asked if she was ok. McCann said she was and the officer noted she didn’t appear to be injured.
Breeden got the phone number for McCann’s mother from a neighbor and told her what had been going on that day.
“(The mother) told me that her daughter had spent some time in a (mental institution) at Grady this past year and that she got like this when she started drinking,” Breeden stated. He also told her he did not smell any alcohol on McCann.
As officers left the area at 3:53 p.m., a dispatcher noted “I spoke to the crisis center again and they haven’t spoken to her but the mother did try to call them also ... (the mother) also adv(ised) she may be off her medication.”
Officers involved in shooting on paid
leave
Department, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol said.
The officers who shot back at McCann were Floyd County police officers Leonard Whaley and Chris Shelley, Georgia State Patrol Trooper Jamie Mitchell and Floyd County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Womack, according to GBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Ramey.
Floyd County Police Chief Mark Wallace and Sheriff Tim Burkhalter also said their officers will undergo counseling.
“At this point we feel that our officers responded correctly and we want to ensure that their physical as well as emotional health are tended to,” Wallace said.
According to Ramey, the supervisor of the GBI’s Region 1 office in Calhoun:
A Cave Spring police officer had tried to make a traffic stop on the 55-year-old McCann around 3 p.m. Monday as she was speeding in her red Toyota pickup truck through a school zone in town. A chase began when McCann did not stop, and it was eventually joined by members of the three other agencies involved.
The pursuit of McCann continued until reaching the intersection of U.S. 411 and Ga. Loop 1, where she crashed into several police vehicles. She fired first at police and the four officers returned fire, killing her. No officers were injured.
At 3:15 p.m., another call was received for the area. A neighbor reported she heard a gunshot and was concerned because of the police presence earlier in the day. Three Polk County police officers, including Breeden, and PCSO Sgt. McKinney responded to the call. They went around to the back of the residence.
A 911 dispatcher called McCann from a personal cell phone because “she was ignoring admin calls to make sure she was still alive ... she advised me she was fine but then stated someone was trying to break into her house and I adv(ised) her is was PD.”
The four law enforcement officers involved in the shooting in Floyd County on the afternoon of May 7 have been put on administrative leave pending the result of the GBI’s investigation, officials with the Floyd County Police