LOGANVILLE, Ga. — Newly released bodycam video captures the moment Loganville police arrested a customer who opened fire in a Lowe’s parking lot Friday afternoon after confronting someone he believed was shoplifting.
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“Show me your hands! Get on the ground right now,” an officer shouts in the video as police take down 64-year-old Steven Wagner inside the store on Atlanta Highway.
Wagner, who identified himself as a former military police officer, told police he fired three rounds at someone around 3 p.m. after the person allegedly pointed a gun at him.
“The guy stole from the store. I had to confront him. He pointed a gun at me, so I let off three rounds at him. He took off. That’s all that happened. It was completely self-defense on my part,” Wagner told officers in the bodycam video.
However, arrest warrants and witness statements tell a different story.
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One warrant says Wagner fired at someone “he believed to be shoplifting.” Another warrant describes the person Wagner shot at as just “another person that was shopping at the store.”
“Nobody else said anything about the other dude having a gun?” an officer asked in the video while interviewing witnesses. “No, just the bad guy,” another officer responded.
The bodycam video shows the man Wagner targeted, described as a Black male in his 20s, running around the building and leaving the scene before police could interview him.
“We don’t have a victim right now,” an officer said.
Police have not yet located the victim to talk to him.
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Wagner appeared to have second thoughts about his actions while in custody.
“I maybe shouldn’t have confronted him,” he told officers.
Police charged Wagner with felony aggravated assault and reckless conduct.
Loganville Police Chief M.D. Lowry issued a statement on Wednesday making clear Wagner’s actions violated Georgia law.
“Even if the victim in this case was shoplifting, which is still unclear, firing shots at him for doing so would not be justified,” Lowry said.
Wagner is being held at the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond.
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