Slain woman's call to 911 released

Friday, April 15, 2011

Minutes before Peggy Sue Hamby was shot and killed by her husband Sunday night, she told a Murray County 911 operator, "He's got the gun pointed at my head. ... He's saying we're both going to die," according to tapes released by Murray County 911.

Hamby tells the operator her husband, Kenneth Green, 45, was threatening that if an officer pulled into the yard, "he'll blow my head off."

Minutes later, Green shot Hamby and then was fatally shot when he turned a rifle on a Murray County deputy sheriff.

In the call, Hamby's voice sounds more resigned than panicked.

"You can talk all you want to now. He's done loaded it and fixing to shoot," she tells the operator. She later tells him that Green "woke up drunk" and is "going ballistic."

The operator repeatedly tells Hamby to get away from Green and not to talk to him.

"Is your door locked? Are you away from him?" the operator asks.

Hamby replies that she can't get away, saying, "It's a 700-square-foot house, OK, does that tell you anything?" She says Green has a shotgun pointed at her.

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The operator asks if Green will speak with him. Green is initially reluctant, then agrees to get on the phone - at which point the line cuts off. The Murray operator tries to call Hamby's phone back several times, with no response.

Murray County Sheriff Howard Ensley reported Monday that a deputy patrolling the area near the couple's home on Bahamas Drive responded to the call in minutes and tried to sneak up to the house.

On the radio, the deputy asks, "How do you want me to approach?"

Another officer advises him to walk up. Just after that, Ensley said, the fatal shots were fired.

The deputy, whose name is being withheld, was described as "very upset." He did not work Monday or Tuesday, but is not required to be placed on leave, according to the sheriff.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating to ensure correct policies were followed, officials said.