HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — An 89-year-old man is in the hospital after police say he refused to put down his weapon and they shot him.
It happened on King Mill Road in Henry County after officers say they went to his home to execute a search and arrest warrant.
That’s when shots were fired.
“Oh it was a boom and when I came outside you could smell gunpowder,” neighbor Dan Williams told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.
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Several neighbors said they heard that loud boom around 6 a.m. Friday.
“Boom, real loud, and it scared me,” another neighbor described.
That and gunfire came after Henry County police and SWAT arrived at the home.
Williams said he tried to see what was going on.
“I was standing right at that corner. They wouldn’t let me through,” he said.
Officers told Jones they arrived at the home to execute a search and arrest warrant. They were looking for two people wanted for aggravated assault and multiple other charges.
“During the execution of those two warrants shots was fired. One suspect was injured,” Henry County Police Lieutenant Andra Sykes said.
The GBI now says the man who officers wounded is 89-year-old John McPherson Sr.
Agents say when they went into the home, McPherson had a long gun and refused to put it down. They say he then came out of a bedroom and pointed the weapon at officers.
Two officers opened fire, wounding him. He was transported to the hospital.
Some neighbors wonder if a baby was in the home during the shooting after what Dan Williams saw an officer take out of an SUV.
“A woman police officer reached inside and pulled out an infant,” he said.
Jones saw someone come to the police line, and an officer handed them a child’s car seat.
A woman on scene told Jones it was her 89-year-old father who was shot. She said she was just trying to find out what happened.
The GBI says it will turn its independent investigation over to the Henry County D.A.’s office for review.
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