Savannah-Chatham police said Friday they’d shared the results of their investigation into an April 9 officer-involved-shooting with the Chatham County District’s Attorney’s Office.
The two departments planned to work together as the case moves forward, said Julian Miller, police spokesman.
The inquiry followed an about 3 a.m. shooting in which an officer, whose name has not yet been released by police, shot 23-year-old Timothy Maurice Williams near West 44th and Barnard streets.
Miller said the officer was responding to a call of shots fired in the area when a resident waived him down while she was calling 911 to report men were breaking into her house.
That’s when the officer found Williams and two other men had scaled a fence. Miller said Williams “moved swiftly toward” the officer at that time and the officer opened fire, leaving Williams with injuries described previously as non-life threatening.
Miller said further investigation since the incident showed the three men who’d jumped the fence had been attempting to elude suspects who had shot at them.
Officers found more than 20 spent cartridges in the area, Miller said.
The officer who shot Williams sought counsel and was advised to decline to discus the incident with investigators, Miller said. Those actions slowed the investigation for some time until Savannah-Chatham Police Chief Willie Lovett ordered the officer to cooperate.
“We have tried to provide all the information we can (to the DA’s office),” Police Chief Willie Lovett said in a prepared statement. “But that has been complicated by the nature of the case. Both the police officer and the victim have rights we must protect.”