Police say Whitfield County deputy shot man who had knife

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating an incident that left a Whitfield County man dead after a shooting involving a Whitfield County deputy.

Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office said a deputy responded to a home on Old Chattanooga Road on a report of a suicide attempt.

The deputy found the man inside his home.

"He had stabbed [himself] several times with a knife, and he was threatening to kill [himself] and was continuing to stab [himself]," Gibson said.

Deputies tried to subdue the man with a Taser, but they were unable to incapacitate him. The man bolted through the front door and ran through the yard as deputies gave chase. Gibson said the man then stopped beside the road.

"The suspect turned around and slashed his neck on both sides ... with a knife," he said, "and cut pretty deep into his neck."

Gibson said the man then raised his knife and "made a threatening charge toward the officer." He said a deputy fired one round at the man that struck him in his torso.

The man was taken to Hamilton Medical Center and pronounced dead early Tuesday morning.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident, Gibson said.

"We call them in on these officer-involved shootings to give a neutral view of the investigation," he said.

The names of the victim and the deputy who fired the shot have not been released.