GBI identifies deputy, man killed in deputy-related shooting

October 6, 2017

THOMAS COUNTY, Ga. (WCTV) -- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified the deputy and the person killed in an officer-involved shooting in Thomas County earlier this week.

GBI identified the person killed as 37-year-old Jomekia Turner, and says an autopsy was performed this morning.

The involved deputy is Tyler Lamon of the Thomas County Sheriff's Office.

The shooting happened on Wednesday evening when TCSO received a call of a man walking down the road with a gun.

TCSO says deputies fired beanbags at the Turner but he wouldn't stop, and eventually pointed a gun at deputies before being shot himself.

October 5, 2017

THOMAS COUNTY, Ga. (WCTV) -- Those who live off of County Line Road in Thomas County, aren’t strangers to a lot of traffic moving through the area, but it’s usually not like what they saw Wednesday night.

"I saw a deputy's sheriff's car come flying down the road with his lights on," said Robert Whiddon.

That car was responding to a report of a man walking along the road with a gun. The incident happened as dozens were getting out of a nearby church, including Brad Sculey.

"I was scared. I was scared for the neighborhood, the people here, and the church. There were still people there from church and Choir, so I was really scared for them," Sculey said.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, law enforcement tried to disarm the man and calm him down, before shooting him with a bean bag. When that didn’t work, the man raised his gun at the authorities, a SWAT team officer shot the suspect, killing him.

"I know most times they do what they have to do, it’s different situations and most times you never know what's going to happen," said Josh Hurst, a resident in the area.

Residents explained that the hardest part for them was the hours long wait to find out what was going on.

"It's scary knowing that I have kids here, and there are kids around everywhere. This just happened right behind us, probably 30 feet away. You just never know what can happen, what is happening right behind where you stay," Hurst said,

The GBI has not released the name of the man killed, or the officer who fired the shot.

October 5, 2017

THOMAS COUNTY, Ga. (WCTV) -- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in Thomas County.

GBI says around 7:11 p.m. Wednesday, Thomas County 911 got a report of a man walking along County Line Road with a gun.

Responding deputies say the man was talking irrationally and carrying a pistol. GBI says the officers made several attempts to deescalate the situation, asking the man to drop the gun, but he refused and kept walking.

The Thomasville/Thomas County SWAT team was called in. The team shot at the man with a non-lethal bean bag, but it didn't work.

That's when GBI says the man pointed his pistol at SWAT officers, and an officer shot and killed him.

Authorities are not releasing the name of the man killed until next of kin are notified. The GBI will perform an autopsy.

This marks the second fatal shooting by law enforcement in Thomas County in the last three months. In August, 37-year-old Herbert Gilbert

by a Thomas County Drug Agent as officials were attempting to execute a search warrant. The case remains under investigation.