Police ID Man Killed In Officer-Involved Shooting (UPDATE)

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BARTOW COUNTY, GA - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is once again handling a fatal shooting death of a man by a law enforcement officer in Bartow County.

The GBI’s Calhoun Regional Office was called in early Saturday morning by the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office to investigate a deputy-involved shooting that took place in the 4500 block of Bartow Carver Road in unincorporated Acworth.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a domestic dispute around 11:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8. Once deputies arrived at the home, they were met with the resident who called 911 outside the home. As they were talking to the woman, her boyfriend, identified as Andrew Earl Abernathy, 50, “came out of the house armed with a long gun,” the GBI said.

“The deputies repeatedly commanded the individual to drop the weapon,” the agency said. “The individual continued to advance toward the deputies and raised the gun, pointing it at them. The deputies fired multiple times, striking the individual.”

SEE ALSO

• GBI Releases Identities of Cop, Driver In Fatal Shooting
• GBI Releases Identities of Suspect, Deputy Involved in Fatal Shooting

EMS crews were called to the scene and upon their arrival, they got to work in performing life-saving measures on Abernathy, who was later pronounced dead at Cartersville Medical Center.

The two deputies involved in the shooting were not injured.

The GBI’s Medical Examiner’s Office in Decatur will perform an autopsy. Once the GBI completes its investigation, the agency stated it will turn its file over to the Bartow County District Attorney’s Office for review.

The overnight incident is the third officer-involved shooting within the last year the GBI has been called in to investigate in Bartow County.

An Emerson police officer fatally shot a motorist during a traffic stop in October 2015 along I-75 in Cartersville. In July 2015, a man wielding a large branch was fatally shot by another Bartow sheriff’s deputies after the GBI says he charged at officers.

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