Crime & Safety

Milton Man Critical After Police Shooting

The suspect's Facebook page caused a friend to report threats, and police say he aimed a pistol at officers after they arrived on scene.

UPDATED 3:15 p.m.: Now added to this article, a GBI spokesman explains how a police-involved shooting is handled by his agency.

A 43-year-old Milton man is in critical condition after he allegedly raised a pistol at responding officers following threats he made through the popular social media site Facebook to kill himself and police officers who came to his home.

Capt. Shawn McCarty of the Milton Police Department said a friend of the suspect, Jeff Hamilton, called 911 at 8:15 p.m. May 8 after seeing the suicidal status update. Officers arrived at Hamilton's Morris Road townhome, which is in the Fairview community, five minutes later.

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Officers spoke with Hamilton through his partially opened front door and repeatedly asked to see his hands to ensure he was not armed. Hamilton did not comply and became more agitated.

According to a news release from the city, Hamilton allegedly aimed a pistol at Milton police, and was tased and shot.

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EMS units arrived and transported Hamilton to North Fulton Regional Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation, part of the department's standard procedures. In the City of Milton, the GBI investigates all officer-involved shootings.

John Bankhead, GBI spokesman, said "It's really up to that agency to request the GBI. Some agencies do have protocol and policy that anytime there is a shooting within that agency that the GBI is called."

The GBI doesn't typically work on cases with larger agencies such as Atlanta, Gwinnett or Cobb County.

"But agencies like Milton, that size, we typically work their police-inolved shootings as an outside investigating agency.

Bankhead said investigators will interview all witnesses, collect forensic evidence and then turn it over to the District Attorney's office and also file the report with the police chief.

"We don't make any recommendations or offer any opinions. In instances like that we collect facts," he said.

It is up to the DA to review what the GBI has compiled, and make a determination whether or not it was justified, or whatever action needs to be taken. This is how every police-involved shooting investigation is handled, he said.

In rare cases other action needs to be taken based on what the GBI finds, but that is handled after consultation with the DA.

The officer involved has been with the Milton Police Department for five years and is a 15-year veteran of law enforcement.

McCarty said the GBI will determine the charges against Hamilton. Officers currently have no motive for his alleged suicidal and violent threats.

This is the first officer-involved shooting in the five-year history of the City of Milton Police Department.


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