Peach County deputy shoots, wounds armed man

A man was shot by a Peach County sheriff’s deputy early Tuesday while the deputy was investigating a shooting that happened an hour or so earlier.

The drama played out in the middle of the night.

About 2 a.m. Tuesday, Nicholas Coker, a 28-year-old who was wounded in the earlier gunfire, went to a hospital on the south side of Byron.

He was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg, said J.T. Ricketson, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Perry office. The wound wasn’t thought to be life-threatening.

Coker told investigators the shooting happened at his stepfather’s house on West Valley Drive, just north of Ga. 96 about a mile west of Peach County High School.

Two deputies were sent to investigate.

About 3 a.m., Coker’s stepfather, Lonnie Shaw, answered the door holding a pistol, authorities said.

“At some point, the deputies felt threatened, and the man did not drop the gun,” Ricketson said. “One deputy fired one round and struck the man in the upper torso.”

Shaw’s relatives who were at the scene late Tuesday morning told reporters that the deputies stanched his bleeding until an ambulance came about 3:40 a.m. and took Shaw to a Macon hospital.

Relatives said the deputies had gone to Shaw’s house to inform him that his stepson, Coker, had been shot.

Shaw had a restraining order against his stepson, family members said. It wasn’t clear why Coker might have been there earlier in the night, or who shot him.

Randy Shaw, Lonnie Shaw’s brother, said it was not unusual for Lonnie to answer the door toting his pistol at such a late hour. The area has a history of burglaries, the family said.

Randy Shaw, referring to the deputies, said, “They came up here thinking they were coming up against somebody that was a violent person.”

Barbara Shaw said her brother-in-law was not a violent person.

“He’s loud and very kindhearted,” she said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but he’s always been there when we needed him.”

Ricketson said that because of the nature of the call, sheriff’s deputies were responding with appropriate caution.

“You’re responding to a gunshot call,” he said. “You know you’re probably dealing with an armed individual.”

Sheriff Terry Deese said the GBI was called in to look into the case “as an independent investigator.”

The GBI was examining the scene and trying to confirm that the first shooting also took place at Shaw’s West Valley Drive residence.

Shaw apparently had a surveillance camera on his property. Ricketson said any video footage could help investigators.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 9:38 AM with the headline "Peach County deputy shoots, wounds armed man."