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POST opens investigation into Victor Hill

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The president of the Georgia Sheriff's Association told Channel 2 Action News that Sheriff Victor Hill's failure to cooperate with investigators is an embarrassment.
 
"From Sheriff Hill's standpoint he should set an example for everybody to be cooperative with the police, and I don't see that he's doing that and that makes him an embarrassment to all sheriffs and all law enforcement officers," said Decatur County Sheriff Wiley Griffin, president of the Georgia Sheriff's Association.
 
Griffin said Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is a member in good standing even if Hill stands accused in a warrant dated Wednesday of reckless conduct.
 
"It's definitely a sad situation when you have someone injured," Griffin said.
 
Gwinnett County police Cpl. Deon Washington told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that as of Thursday afternoon Hill had yet to make a statement to investigators about his involvement in last weekend's accidental shooting of Gwenevvere McCord.
 
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Hill has been somewhat cooperative in turning over his phone, clothing and gun, but not fully cooperative since he has not made a statement to authorities, as is his right.
 
"He does have constitutional rights just like everybody else," Griffin said.
 
"Whether he's the elected sheriff or whether any Joe Blow on the street, everyone has the same rights not to incriminate themselves," said defense lawyer Jackie Patterson. "As a police officer you can't be upset when someone exercises their constitutional right to remain silent."
 
Ryan Powell, director of POST, which oversees police certification in the state of Georgia, said the fact Hill is charged with a misdemeanor and not a felony is significant for the POST investigation.
 
"This morning a POST investigation was opened," Powell said. "If it were a felony, we would immediately suspend his certification until that case was adjudicated in the courts."
 
Griffin did say "the victim has a lot to do with it and hopefully she will be OK to tell her side of the story. And if she says she's not a victim, I don't know that you have a crime."
 
He also credited Hill with a low-key second term as sheriff.

Father says whole thing is an accident

The father of the woman shot by a local sheriff says he does not think the Clayton County sheriff should've been arrested.
 
Gwenevere McCord's father, Ernest, says he learned from doctors that his daughter told paramedics the shooting was an accident.
 
McCord says that's what a doctor told him paramedics said.
 
McCord says Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was trying to help his daughter that day and that's why he didn't think he should face charges.
 
"I didn't believe that he had done anything wrong against her intentionally from the beginning," McCord said.
 
That's why McCord doesn't think Hill should have been arrested after he was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.
 
That's after Hill says he accidentally shot McCord's 43-year-old daughter, Gwenevere McCord, as the real estate agent worked in a model home Sunday.
 
Her father says Hill, a family friend, had been teaching her how to shoot a weapon.
 
"Being a real estate agent, she was looking for protection because there is so much going on in this day and time," Hill said.
 
McCord is also not happy after a doctor told him paramedics said his daughter told them ... Hill didn't mean to shoot her.
 
"It was an accident. That's what she said to the paramedics. Now why they didn't tell us this?" McCord said.
 
The family also didn't know you could hear McCord on the 911 call saying something that vindicated Hill.
 
Gwinnett County Danny Porter wouldn't say specifically what she said.
 
"But I can say that it's consistent with a reckless act rather than an intentional act," Porter said.
 
Porter said the 911 call was just enhanced and he just got paramedics records and that's why the public is just getting this information.
 
Meanwhile, Gwenevere McCord continues to recover.
 
"I consider we're out of the woods," Ernest McCord said.
 
Porter said he would be happy to meet with the McCords and answer any questions they have.

Hill released a statement Thursday about his arrest, saying:

"I want to thank you all for your continued prayers for Gwenevere, and ask that you continue to keep her and her family lifted in prayer. As a result the tragic accident, I was charged with Reckless Conduct, a Misdemeanor, in Gwinnett County.

"While focused on the recovery and healing of Gwenevere, I will simultaneously continue with my duties and responsibilities as the Sheriff of Clayton County.

"Please continue to pray for Gwenevere and her family. "