Gunman yelled, 'I'm not going back to jail,' at cops before he was shot dead, DA says
An armed bandit, who cops say held up a north Macon convenience store earlier this month and was soon after shot and killed by the police, yelled, "I'm not going back to jail," as cops closed in, the district attorney said.
Details of the deadly episode behind the Circle K store at the intersection of Pierce Avenue and Riverside Drive the night of June 2 emerged Friday as the county district attorney declared the shooting justified, an announcement that was not unexpected.
Bibb County sheriff's deputies Christopher Scudari and Christopher Williams, who both fired shots at armed robbery suspect Shamir Deangelo Terry, were "cleared of any criminal wrongdoing," District Attorney David Cooke said at a news conference.
The deputies' encounter with Terry unfolded in the minutes after Terry, 39, allegedly held up the Circle K. An eyewitness to the stickup flagged down Williams, who is said to have then spotted Terry pointing a pistol at a car nearby with someone in it.
Terry, according to the deputies, eyewitnesses and body-cam footage recorded by the deputies, then took off behind the convenience store toward a neighboring Applebee's restaurant parking lot.
The district attorney did not show the video to reporters at the news conference. The footage has not been made public because the case against a woman accused of giving Terry the gun he used remains open.
"Deputy Williams announced himself as a Bibb County deputy and told Mr. Terry to stop. Mr. Terry immediately turned around, raised his gun toward deputy Williams and fired. The deputy took cover behind a dumpster and his patrol car as he returned fire," Cooke said.
As Terry — whose record in Macon includes arrests for misdemeanor criminal trespass, DUI and a probation violation — made his way toward Pierce Avenue, Williams ordered him to stop.
But Terry kept moving, the DA said, yelling, "I'm not going back to jail."
The deputy tried to use a Taser to stop Terry, but it failed.
"Mr. Terry walked out into the the traffic lanes on Pierce Avenue and encountered a passing car," Cooke said.
"At about that time, deputy Scudari arrived in his patrol vehicle. Both deputies saw Mr. Terry raise a gun toward the car and feared for the safety of the motorist. They fired at Mr. Terry, striking him multiple times, while Mr. Terry fired in their direction."
This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Gunman yelled, 'I'm not going back to jail,' at cops before he was shot dead, DA says."