Mom tells 4-year-old son to run moments before police officer shot, suspect killed

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The police officer shot in the face at a local dental office is listed in critical condition after being rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital for surgery.

The incident happened shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday inside the lobby area of the Smile Creators dental office on Jonesboro Road in McDonough.

Police said they went to the dentist's office after receiving a call about a for a disruption, after an agitated man identified as 53-year-old Dimaggio McNelly came into the office and acted erratically.

Investigators said Officer Michael Smith tried to shock McNelly with a stun gun several times before the gunfire began. They said the same shot hit both McNelly and Smith.

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McNelly is dead and investigators are reviewing cellphone video of the shooting.

Channel 2's Tom Jones spoke with a woman who was in the waiting room when McNelly walked in.

"I picked him up. I knew this was not a good scene," Charmaine Stallworth said. "The whole situation was just very odd."

Stallworth told Jones she felt uneasy.

"Just the way that he came in to go to the back of the office area without someone walking you back,"  Stallworth said.

She said McNelly wrote a note after workers escorted him back to the waiting room. Stallworth said McNelly pushed past the employees and threatened them when they told him the doctor was in a procedure that would take two hours.

She said she knew it was time for her and her 4-year-old son to get out of there.

"When he started saying he was making threats toward them, I grabbed my stuff, my son, and I told him to run," Stallworth said.

"One shot was fired during the struggle," GBI Spokesperson Natalie Ammons said.

Smith was somehow hit in the face with the same bullet that killed McNelly.

"My son was crying and it's his first time going to the dentist office," Stallworth said.

Stallworth said her son is still shaken by it all and she said she is second-guessing herself for leaving the female workers alone with McNelly.

"If something did happen, I felt bad about leaving them," Stallworth said.

The woman said she's thankful for Smith coming to the rescue. Workers at the dental office said McNelly was not a patient there.

Cox Media Group