Douglas County

1 dead, deputy, grandmother holding baby and man with autism shot in Douglas County

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — One person is dead and three others were injured, including a deputy and the suspect, in a shooting, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that it investigating the deputy-involved shooting that happened in Douglas County on Wednesday morning.

Deputies said they were called to a home on North Bear Drive off Kings Highway around 9:30. When deputies got there, they found a man who had been shot, lying on the kitchen floor.

The GBI identified the victim as Walter Jackson Sr., 66, the suspect’s great-uncle. He died on the scene.

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Deputies saw a woman, the grandmother, holding a baby and she told deputies that the shooter was in another room.

When deputies saw the suspected shooter, identified as Christian Roman, 27, he started shooting at them. That’s when deputies shot back at Roman.

According to the GBI, the deputy was shot multiple times. He was taken to a hospital where he is in stable condition. Roman was also shot and airlifted to the hospital where he is in stable condition.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden captured video of Douglas County Sheriff and Georgia State Patrol vehicles escorting an ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital at around 10:30 a.m. and Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was outside Grady Memorial Hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Both spoke with Ashley Budahazy, Roman’s sister, after the incident happened.

She told Seiden that she was at work when it happened.

“I was at work and all I know is I got a call from my brother saying that I need to tell my boss that I needed to go home because my brother had got shot,” Budahazy said. “He’s autistic. He’s 27 years old but he has a mentality like a 12-year-old.”

She told Francisco that her grandmother was also hospitalized. She was grazed by a bullet on her back as she tried to take cover holding Budahazy’s daughter.

“My brother, he is stable and he’s conscious, but he was shot multiple times,” Budahazy said. “They said there was like seven shots or whatever, but I don’t know if all seven shots hit him or what. My nanna was hit in the crossfire on the way to her room while holding my daughter.”

Budahazy said her daughter was not injured.

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On WSB Tonight at 11 p.m., she told Channel 2′s Michael Doudna that her brother and her great-uncle got into a fight that spiraled out of control, leading to Roman fatally shooting her uncle, Walter Jackson.

Budahazy is wondering what’s next for her brother.

“I don’t want anybody to perceive him like a killer or a monster. He’s not. He wasn’t trying to do anything like that,” she said.

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