A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent processes the crime scene after three metro Atlanta officers were injured Monday, April 12, 2021, after a police chase entered Carroll County, Ga., and a passenger fired multiple rounds with a rifle, officials said. Georgia authorities said one suspect was killed and the other arrested following the chase. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
April 14, 2021 - 2:05 PM
VILLA RICA, Ga. - Dashcam video released Wednesday shows a man opening fire on Georgia sheriff's deputies and the deputies returning fire following a high-speed chase.
Authorities have said two cousins from Birmingham, Alabama — 22-year-old Aaron Jajuan Shelton and 28-year-old Pier Alexander Shelton — led officers from several different law enforcement agencies on a high-speed chase early Monday morning after fleeing a traffic stop on Interstate 20 about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of Atlanta. Three officers were shot and wounded and Pier Shelton was killed by officers.
After the cousins led police on a chase through Carrollton and Villa Rica, the Nissan Sentra they were travelling in went down a side road and crashed in a wooded area near a Villa Rica elementary school. Officers began setting up a perimeter to search for the two men, according to a news release from the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.
Two sheriff's deputies, Corporal Jamison Troutt and Deputy Jay Repetto, who were working to divert traffic in the area, were alerted to gunfire and were told a Villa Rica police officer needed assistance, the release says. As they drove down the side road and saw Villa Rica Police Officer Chase Gordy's vehicle in the roadway, they received word that an officer was down.
As they drove toward Gordy's vehicle, the dashcam video shows a man, identified by the sheriff's office as Pier Shelton, in the road walking toward their advancing vehicle. He lifts a rifle and opens fire, disabling the deputies' vehicle and hitting Repetto in the arm. The deputies immediately returned fire, hitting and killing Shelton.
That “stopped the threat in a matter of seconds,” allowing first responders to get to Gordy, who had been shot multiple times, the release says. Aaron Shelton was found a short time later and was taken into custody.
In addition to Gordy and Repetto, Carrollton Police Sgt. Rob Holloway was hit by gunfire, causing him to crash his patrol car earlier in the chase.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021