A man was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition Saturday after an officer-involved shooting at an apartment complex in Clarkesville. Several deputies with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the shooting. Habersham County Public Information Officer Rob Moore says no law enforcement officers were injured.
According to Moore, Clarkesville police were dispatched to the complex for a welfare check around 6:14 p.m. on September 7. He says several sheriff’s deputies responded as backup for the police department.
Cameron resident Malachai Walsh says he was inside his apartment around 7 p.m. Saturday when he heard gunshots.
“I just was sitting on the couch and heard multiple gunshots and waited a few seconds and went outside and saw the police holster pistols and roll the suspect over,” says Walsh. He says police “yelled at me to go inside once they noticed me out there.”
Walsh says the man was shot multiple times and was fighting with authorities as they tried to administer aid. The young father says he did not personally know the man, “but I have seen him and his daughter a few times at the pool at the apartments.”
Other residents tell Now Habersham the man was struggling with personal issues and “was having a hard time.”
‘Different kinds of guns shot’
“My cousin was out walking her dog, and she said they were banging on his door, and she saw him running up the hill with an AR strapped around his chest,” says one resident who asked not to be named. “Basically, he came down here and pointed at them, and they unloaded on him,” he says.
After the shooting, the resident says he saw “four cops with their guns over his body, and he is covered in blood.”
Another resident, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Lisa, says, “I heard two different kinds of guns shot. One was three to five shots. The other was probably 15.”
Mikie Albini was not at home when the shooting happened but was on his way “when a friend called me and said, ‘Don’t come home yet. There is an active shooter- they have a gun.'” After waiting an hour across town, Albini says he returned home to find “20 or 30 cops” at the complex.
Walsh was concerned for his one-year-old child, but says law enforcement never notified them of any danger throughout the incident.
GBI investigating
In keeping with standard protocol, the sheriff’s office has turned over its investigation to the GBI for an independent investigation. Local law enforcement is deferring all questions to the state agency.
The GBI has not released a statement and has not publicly identified the wounded man. Now Habersham will continue to update this story as new information is made available.
This article has been updated to reflect that the initial 911 call went out later than originally reported
