CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — A man was shot and killed late Monday after he pointed a pellet gun at Carroll County sheriff’s deputies and disobeyed commands to drop the weapon, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Authorities told Channel 2 Action News they did not learn what David Willoughby, 33, was pointing at them until after the deadly shooting, which occurred about 11 p.m. on West Lakeview Drive and Bar J Road near Temple.
GBI spokesman Chris DeMarco told Channel 2's Darryn Moore the incident started with a call about a suspicious person with a gun in someone's backyard.
Deputies found Willoughby hiding in a wooded area. He pointed the pellet gun at them, and the deputies ordered Willoughby to drop it, according to the GBI. He refused, prompting deputies to open fire.
"They fired several rounds," DeMarco said.
He was transported to Tanner Medical Center, where he died, DeMarco said.
No officers were injured during the incident.
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The GBI is looking into the deadly incident, which is standard protocol in use-of-force cases.
“Once completed,” DeMarco said, “the case will be turned over to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.”
Neighbors told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes that Willoughby had been terrorizing the neighborhood for months.
One woman said she had to stop her husband from shooting Willoughby because he repeatedly made threats.
“It was best for police to be the ones to shoot him,” the woman told Fernandes, asking not to be identified.
Neighbors said Willoughby would always walk around West Lakeview Drive after he had been drinking. They said he often had a gun in hand, even when several children were playing outside.
The woman told Fernandes that she was the one who called 911 Monday night.
“He was pretty much after me,” the woman told Fernandes.
After the November incident, police arrested Willoughby and charged him with three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of making terroristic threats and one count of public drunkenness. Investigators said he admitted to threatening neighbors with a shotgun that time.
In 2017, the GBI investigated 95 officer-involved shootings. So far, this year there have been 15 officer-involved shootings.
Carroll County deputies shot and killed a man who GBI Agents said was acting suspicious and pointed a rifle at the deputies which turned out to be a pellet rifle. #wsbtv pic.twitter.com/ktFVrDgzvH
— Darryn Moore (@DarrynMooreWSB) March 6, 2018
Cox Media Group
