GRANTVILLE, Ga. — People who live near where a man shot at officers and wounded a canine say they feel a bit uneasy that he’s still hasn’t been found.
They say it doesn’t help that officers are no longer on the ground searching for him.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones was the first reporter to arrive on South Highway 29 in Grantville, where police had set up a command center while they searched for 51-year-old Ira Williams on Wednesday afternoon.
The GBI released his picture Thursday afternoon and we learned he is from Rockdale County.
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Meanwhile, people who lived nearby were frantic seeing all the police activity. Trellis Zachary say a friend called her asking if she was okay.
“There’s a man that’s loose in your neighborhood,” Zachary recalled her friend saying.
Zachary told Channel 2 Action News that she’d looked outside and seen dozens of officers and felt safe.
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“But then I got up in the middle of the night. Was like 12 o’clock. And I peeped out the window and I was like I don’t see the blue lights anymore. I’m not safe,” Zachary said. “They’re gone. Oh no.”
Grantville’s Mayor Michael Proctor told Jones his police chief let him know the on-ground search had been called off.
Williams is accused of handing a state trooper his license during a traffic stop, then leading officers on a chase from I-85 to Grantville, shooting at them and wounding a canine.
Police say he ran into thick woods just off South Highway 29 and Calico Loop Wednesday. There was a massive police presence as officers searched for him, but they never found him.
Business owner Jeffrey Ford thinks he knows why. “I don’t think he’s still in Grantville. I don’t. He gone. Really,” he told Channel 2 Action News.
Ford owns Nard’s BBQ on South Highway 29. We caught up with him as he cooked his meat, “Ribs. Chicken. Potatoes.”
He’s near where Williams disappeared. But he says he’s not worried. He’s former military. Even though he thinks Williams has left the area, he’s not taking any chances.
“Just keep your eyes peeled. And your ears open you know what I mean,” Ford said.
Over at the hardware store on Highway 29, worker Jackson Lonnie said he’s not worried about his safety, but he is concerned. “For him,” he said with a wry smile. “Yeah. He ought to give himself up.”
Some members of the community in Grantville believe that officers ended the ground search for Williams since they have his driver’s license and know what he looks like.
The GBI said Wednesday that Georgia State troopers initially stopped Williams for an obscured license plate.
The mayor said that while the on-ground search is off, officers have stepped up patrols in the area.
In the meantime, K-9 Amor is recovering.
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