The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has charged an Alto man with reckless conduct after he was injured by a self-inflicted gunshot Wednesday night in the parking lot of Habersham Hills Cinema.
Habersham County E-911 received a call reporting the man, later identified as 39-year-old Michael Andrew Stembridge of Alto, was sitting in a red Dodge van alone, throwing things and screaming ‘Call 911,’ says sheriff’s office spokesperson Rob Moore.
“Stembridge told a 911 caller he had been shot and needed an ambulance,” Moore says.
Units from the sheriff’s office arrived shortly after 7 p.m. to find Stembridge suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his left thigh/femur area.
EMTs applied a tourniquet, and Habersham County EMS transported Stembridge by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment.
Passing motorists reported a heavy police presence at the movie theater on Cody Road, off GA 365/US 441 in Mt. Airy. Moviegoers, frightened by the commotion, said police told them there had been a shooting.
Authorities did not say whether the shooting was accidental. They did not indicate whether there was a public threat and did not release information on the shooting until late Thursday morning.
Stembridge was later released from the hospital and arrested by Habersham County sheriff’s deputies. They charged him with one count of reckless conduct.
As of Thursday morning, he remained in the Habersham County Detention Center.
