Chief describes chaotic scene after officer shot: 'I was just helpless'

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The Locust Grove police chief told Channel 2 Action News about the moments after one of his officers was shot and killed.

Officer Chase Maddox, 26, was shot Friday by a suspect when he came to back up two Henry County sheriff’s deputies serving a warrant.

Chief Jess Patton was at the scene. He said he knelt beside Maddox and prayed as they waited for paramedics to arrive.

"There's just so much racing through my mind at that time that I was just helpless. Time just seemed like it was in slow motion," he said. "I kept on and on (saying), 'Come on, Chase. You're going to make it.'"

Patton said it was a moment he will never forget.

“It was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to go through,” he said. “Something I want to never go through again.”

He said he was hurt knowing that one of his officers was shot by a suspect.

"At such a chaotic scene, holding back feelings of hurt and anger that was taking place in my heart," he said.

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Patton said he’s known Maddox since he was a kid. He said in the 17 years since he’s been chief, Maddox was the only officer he hired straight out of the academy.

"During his interview, he just could not stop talking about he wanted to help people," Patton said.

The chief said Maddox was called to be an officer.

"It was Chase being there because that's what he was called to do and he's the one that received the call," he said.

Patton said his pastor gave him the best answer to why this happened: "Evil. The evil that lurks on this earth."

He said his faith and his officers are getting him through this difficult time. He said city officials, Locust Grove citizens and people from across the country have also been there to help his department.

Donated baby supplies have piled up at police headquarters for Maddox's baby boy, who was just born Tuesday.

Patton said the department will always be there for the Maddox family.

Cox Media Group