Woodstock Officer Cleared in Walmart Shooting

The officer who fatally shot a man in the parking lot outside Walmart on Highway 92 in the spring will not face criminal charges.

Shannon Wallace, district attorney for the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, said her office has reviewed the evidence in the April 11 shooting and determined “there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of officer [Jarred] Jackson and no indictment will be pursued by this office.”

Woodstock officers around 9:15 p.m. responded to a call of a suspicious person in the parking lot at the big box retailer at 12182 Highway 92.

Moments after they arrived onto the scene, Dennis Doty, 45, was fatally shot by Jackson. He was transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital where he died from his injuries.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to review the officer-involved shooting and once it completed its investigation, turned the case over to the district attorney’s office for further review.

Wallace said she reviewed the GBI case file, which included the Walmart surveillance video capturing the incident and statements from numerous eyewitness who were at the scene “when Mr. Doty charged Officer Jackson armed with a four-foot-long piece of metal rebar.”

At the time of the incident, Doty had active warrants out for his arrest by the Woodstock Police Department on terroristic threats, obstruction and disorderly conduct charges, Cherokee Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Jay Baker previously told Patch.

In 2004, Doty was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on criminal trespassing charges, Baker added.

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