We now know the name of the Peach County Deputy who shot a man early Tuesday morning. Sheriff Terry Deese says Deputy Brandon Williams shot Lonnie Shaw at his home in Fort Valley. Deese says Shaw was shot after he moved as if to raise his gun toward the two deputies who came to his door. Claire Davis sat down with Deese to find out about latest on the investigation.
Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese says Deputy Brandon Williams is an 11-year-veteran with his Office. “He's always done a good job for us,” said Deese.
He says Williams is the deputy who shot Lonnie Shaw early Tuesday. Deese says that happened after Shaw moved, as if to raise his gun toward Williams another Deputy James Perry.
On Tuesday, Shaw's wife, Dawn said he was shot as soon as he opened the door. She said Lonnie never raised his gun and the deputies never spoke to him. But GBI special agent in charge JT Ricketson says he's seeing inconsistencies between what Dawn Shaw told the media and what she told investigators. “We did some extensive interviews with the wife that was at the house at the time. And I do know that there are some inconsistencies that I'm seeing. But again what we try to do is we are the finders of fact and so we can only find what we find,” said Ricketson.
Deese says Tuesday's shooting isn't the first time deputies have been called to the Shaw home on West Valley Drive. “We're a small community so obviously we're familiar with them,” said Deese.
He says an hour before the shooting, Shaw's step-son Nicholas Coker went to the Peach County Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the leg. Deese says Coker told investigators he'd been shot at Shaw's home. “There are times when we've had to go out there, he was on the property and Mr. Shaw wanted him gone. Just that sort of thing,” said Deese.
Deese calls Shaw's shooting tragic. “Not something that any police officer ever wants to do is to have to use that weapon. We understand that the family is really under a lot of stress and understandably so. But the on the flip side of that is the officers that have to do things like this also suffer with their families. So there's two sides to that story,” said Deese.
Some of the evidence Ricketson says is being processed today is the surveillance footage from the Shaw's home that Ricketson says shows the deputies knocking on the door and the shooting.
Ricketson says Shaw is still listed in critical condition.
UPDATE (12:04 p.m.) Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese told 13WMAZ the names of the two deputies involved in Tuesday morning's shooting.
Deese says the man who shot Lonnie Shaw on West Valley Drive is Deputy Brandon Williams. Deese says he's an 11-year veteran with the Sheriff's office and he doesn't recall Williams having a disciplinary record. The deputy that was with Williams when they knocked on Shaw's door was Deputy James Perry. Deese also calls him a veteran with the Sheriff's Office.
A GBI spokesman says they're are looking at "inconsistencies" between what Lonnie Shaw's wife told investigators and what she told the media Tuesday.
J.T. Ricketson, special agent in charge of the GBI's Perry office, says Shaw remains in critical condition Wednesday after being shot by a Peach County deputy early Tuesday.
Sheriff Terry Deese said Shaw was shot after moving as if to raise his gun toward the two deputies at his door, around 3:30 a.m.
On Tuesday, his wife, Dawn Shaw, told 13WMAZ Lonnie Shaw was shot as soon as he opened the door. She said he never raised his gun and the deputies never spoke to him.
Ricketson on Wednesday would not say what "inconsistencies" they're looking into.
He said they're still processing evidence in the case Wednesday, and some of that evidence will be sent to the GBI crime lab.
He said that includes surveillance footage from the Shaws' home that shows the deputies knocking on the door and the shooting.
So far, authorities haven't disclosed other details about the case, including the name of the deputy who shot Shaw.
Deese said the deputy is on administrative leave while the case is investigated.
Authorities also haven't identified a man who reportedly went to a local hospital earlier that evening with a gunshot wound.
Ricketson said the deputies who came to the Shaw home were investigating that earlier shooting.
Dawn Shaw says the man wounded in the earlier shooting was her son, Nicholas Coker.
His condition is unknown.