Cops On Leave Following Officer-Involved Shooting

BARTOW COUNTY, GA — The law enforcement personnel who were entangled in an officer-involved shooting Thursday evening in Bartow County have all been placed on administrative leave. That's according to Emerson Police Chief Kyle Teems and Bartow County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Jonathan Rogers, who both confirmed to Patch that the officers and deputy are on paid leave pending the outcome of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's probe into the incident.

Preliminary information indicates that at around 6:05 p.m. Aug. 23, officers were dispatched to a call of a man "threatening to harm himself" at Love's Travel Stop at 150 Old Allatoona Road in Emerson, the GBI said. Two Emerson police officers and one Bartow County sheriff’s deputy encountered Jose Rafael Caballero, 51, who was armed with a handgun and pointed it at the officers, the state agency added.

"Officers gave verbal commands for Caballero to drop his weapon, which he did not," the GBI said in a statement. "When he did not comply, officers fired multiple times, striking him."

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here)

Caballero was transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital where he is in critical, but stable condition. No officers were injured in this incident. This wasn't Caballero's first run-in with police, according to Bartow County Jail records. The Emerson resident was arrested and charged in January with misdemeanor obstruction of an officer.

The GBI said Thursday's incident is the 60th officer-involved shooting it has been called in to investigate in 2018. The agency has also released the names of the officers involved in the incident: Sgt. Neil Baker, Emerson Police Department; officer Gary Mandelus, Emerson Police Department; and Deputy George Murchison, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office.

The GBI will continue its investigation and once that's complete, it will be turned over to the
Cherokee Judicial Circuit for review. Return to Patch for updates.

Photo: Jose Rafael Caballero. Credit: Bartow County Sheriff's Office