GBI investigating an officer-involved shooting in Warner Robins Walmart parking lot
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is handling an investigation into an officer-involved shooting that happened Thursday in the Walmart plaza on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins.
Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner said officers were dispatched to the shopping center just after 2 p.m. and later were informed that someone was breaking into a car.
The officers “made contact” with the individual, who they say fled toward a Bealls Outlet store.
The name of the suspect is Derik Edward Jones, 27, of Winston Salem, North Carolina. The names of the police officers were not released. Two were Warner Robins cops and a third was a Crawford County sheriff’s deputy who happened to be at Walmart shopping.
According to a GBI spokeswoman’s statement about what happened in the shooting, Jones “ran from the officers across the parking lot towards TJ Maxx and Bealls Outlet. When Jones and officers got in front of Bealls Outlet, several shots were fired by Jones and three officers. During the exchange of gunfire, Jones was struck. ... The firearm used by Jones has been identified as a firearm stolen out of a vehicle in the Walmart parking lot.”
Jones was taken to a Macon hospital. His condition has not been released.
On Friday afternoon, a GBI spokeswoman said Jones had been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, theft by receiving, possession of a firearm while on first-offender probation, criminal trespassing, and entering an automobile. The spokeswoman said Jones will be taken to the Houston County jail when he is discharged from the hospital.
“We hate that anything like this ever happens,” Wagner said Thursday. “Worst-case scenario for anybody. Our hearts and minds go out to all of those that were involved in it, witnesses as well.”
Catherine Ford, a witness, was heading out of the Bealls Outlet to her car when she saw someone running out of the corner of her eye. Unsure of what to do, she ran for cover behind her car near the front of the parking lot.
“I just remember hearing noises coming towards me,” Ford said. “I kind of spun around. I didn’t know where to go. Next thing I know I started hearing, at first I thought it was a sign flapping in the wind really loud. I came to realize it was gunshots.”
Ford said that the person dropped to the ground before being surrounded by police officers on the scene. Ford said she was worried that it happened quickly and she was concerned that it might be a larger incident or if more shots could follow the initial ones.
“All I could think was fight or flight and I flew out of there,” Ford said. “I got away from that area and by that time there was blue lights everywhere.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 4:31 PM.