GBI Awaits Autopsy of Man Shot by Clayton Co. Police

The GBI said when police found Robinson and gave chase, he tried to enter a nearby home.

David Randolph, one of multiple witnesses according to the GBI, said he was in the backyard when his son in law stopped Robinson from getting in. Randolph heard shots fired.

“And he come on around the back of the house over there and the officer shot a few more times and the guy just fell face forward on the ground,” Randolph said.

He said he saw Robinson get shot in the back.

“Yeah, he was running from the cop,” Randolph said.

Some of those accounts differ from the Clayton County Police Department statement, which says Robinson was armed and “postured in a defensive manner with his weapon aimed at [police.]” Clayton County police said Robinson was ordered to drop his weapon several times before police shot him.

“There’s a whole lot of pieces to this that need to be evaluated,” said GBI Director of Public Relations Scott Dutton. He said it’s not yet clear where Robinson was hit by bullets, if he fired a weapon or if initial 911 calls said he was armed.

The agency has been increasingly tasked with handling police use of force incidents in the state. In recent years, urban agencies including Atlanta police and DeKalb County police have adopted policies to automatically turn these cases over to GBI investigators.

“And we average two a week somewhere that has occurred in Georgia, where there is death or bodily injury,” GBI Director Vernon Keenan said.

Georgia has approved the budget for an additional 22 GBI agents.The agency says they’re hoping to get the candidates into training in June.