Fugitive wanted in deputy shooting was driving stolen trailer loaded with explosives, GBI says

WHITFIELD COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday morning that it found explosives in a stolen trailer connected to fugitives accused in the shooting of a deputy.

Dalton Potter, 29, remains on the run after officials said he shot a Whitfield County deputy. He is considered armed and dangerous. Authorities have the second fugitive Jonathan Hosmer, 47, already in custody.

According to the GBI, officials executed a search warrant on the trailer Potter was hauling at the time of the shooting. Officials found explosives in the trailer and the GBI says they will be destroyed by its bomb disposal unit.

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The manhunt has been ongoing since Whitfield County Deputy Darrell Hackney pulled over Potter and Hosmer in the Dalton area Monday morning.

In the body camera footage released Tuesday, you can see Hackney walk up to the driver’s window and Potter immediately pull out a gun to fire at him.

Hackney was hit by gunfire, but the GBI says his ballistic vest prevented serious injury.

Hackney and another Whitfield County deputy, Adrian Gomez, returned fire, but Potter and Hosmer escaped driving south on I-75.

Authorities quickly caught Hosmer that afternoon but as of Wednesday, the manhunt for Potter continues.

“We’re following every lead that we have right now. A very heavy concentrated patrol with marked and unmarked units,” Sheriff Scott Chitwood told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington. “If you’re going without food and water, in this heat and you’re on the run, I would think that you’re wearing down a bit.”

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