The middle-aged man accused of shooting at police officers from inside a Pooler home Monday evening died after a responding officer shot him when he stepped outside the building and raised his weapon, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Catherine Sapp, special agent in charge of the GBI's Statesboro office, said a Pooler police officer shot Lance Clay Monday night after a "relatively short" standoff with responding police officers from various agencies at the home in the 100 block of Chinese Fir Court, off Godley Station Boulevard.
"Mr. Clay was having issues and he brandished a weapon and the police were forced to take measures to stop that confrontation," Sapp said.
The GBI took over the investigation into the incident that Pooler police Chief Mark Revenew said began about 8 p.m. when his officers responded to a call of an agitated person. The suspect, Clay, was alone inside the house during the incident, the chief said. Officers from Garden City, Bloomingdale and Port Wentworth and Georgia State Patrol troopers also responded.
Clay was taken to Memorial University Medical Center after he was shot, Sapp said, he died there. The GBI performed an autopsy this morning, she added.
Investigating agents, Sapp said, have determined what led to Clay's standoff with police, but she said she would not immediately release that.
The GBI, she said, is typically called in to investigate incidents similar to the Monday night police-involved shooting in Pooler.
"Basically we are an outside entity to examine the case," Sapp said. "Our job is not to judge right or wrong, it's to gather information as an unbiased agency."
Sapp said information gathered during the investigation would be turned over to the Chatham County District Attorney's Office, who would decide if further action, such as filing charges, is required in the case.
↧
GBI: Suspect shot Monday in Pooler police standoff has died
↧