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Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

UPDATE: Man ID’d who was shot after struggle for deputy’s gun

CENTERVILLE — A man shot by police earlier today after a struggle with a Houston County sheriff’s deputy has been identified.

The man was identified as Ryan Cornelius Rumph, 18, of Marshallville, said Centerville Public Safety Director Anthony B. Cooper.

Rumph was expected to remain hospitalized overnight at The Medical Center of Central Georgia and taken Saturday to the Houston County jail, Cooper said.

Rumph allegedly shot Houston County sheriff’s deputy Deryk Collins, 24, in the scuffle. Collins, who’s been with the sheriff’s office about three years, was taken to Houston Medical Center, said Sheriff Cullen Talton.

Initial reports were that a Centerville police officer next shot the suspect, but it is not yet clear whether the suspect was shot by the Centerville officer or Collins, said Craig Rotter, assistant special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Office in Perry. The GBI was asked to take over the investigation.

A third Centerville officer also was injured but not shot, Rotter said. The suspect was taken to The Medical Center of Central Georgia where his condition was not yet known, Rotter said. The names of the suspect or the Centerville officers involved have not been released.

According to Rotter, a Centerville officer earlier had arrested the suspect for shoplifting at The Galleria mall in Centerville. The officer was taking the suspect into the Centerville police station on Houston Lake Road when the suspect allegedly attacked the officer — breaking away and fleeing on foot through a nearby residential area, Rotter said.

Collins, who was responding to a Centerville police call for assistance, met up with the suspect in a residential backyard on Miller Court. A struggle ensued, the suspect attempted to get the officer’s gun, the gun fired and the officer was wounded, Rotter said.

The suspect was next shot by police. Initial reports from Talton and Cooper was that the suspect was shot by a Centerville police officer. However, the GBI investigation has found that the suspect was fired upon by both the Centerville officer and the sheriff’s deputy, Rotter said.

The arresting Centerville officer who first struggled with the suspect was not the same Centerville officer who later fired upon the suspect, Rotter said.

Also, after the suspect was shot, he broke into a nearby Miller Court home of an elderly couple, Rotter said.

The wife called 911, the suspect fled and as he stepped out of the home was taken into custody by other law enforcement officers who had arrived on scene, Rotter said.

The shooting happened about 1 p.m., Cooper said.

For more on this story, read Saturday’s Telegraph.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.