Georgia News Roundup

One killed in triple shooting

ATLANTA (TNS) — One person was killed in a triple shooting outside a Walmart off Cascade Road, Fulton County police said.

Someone heard gunshots and flagged down a police officer just before 11 p.m. Sunday, Channel 2 Action News reported.

When officers got to the parking lot of the Walmart in the 1100 block of Research Center Drive, they found two men with gunshot wounds.

Both were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, and one of the men died en route to the hospital, Fulton police Cpl. Maureen Smith said.

The man who died was identified as Treveonte Daniel, 22, of the metro Atlanta area, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office.

Later, police found the third person shot at a house nearby, Smith said. That person was also taken to Grady.

Detectives recovered bullet casings and other evidence from the Walmart parking lot, Channel 2 reported.

Sheriff has Fla. court date

ATLANTA (TNS) — Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman faces a court date in Florida and professional scrutiny in Georgia after his involvement in a bar incident, Channel 2 Action News reported.

The incident happened in May 2016 in Carrabelle, Fla., on the Gulf Coast, according to the station. Chapman disclosed the incident in a Facebook post Saturday.

The agency that certifies Georgia peace officers told Channel 2 that investigators are looking into the situation. Under Georgia law, officers are required to self-report any arrests.

Chapman and Maj. Damien Mercer, a Walton County deputy, were charged with battery, which was later changed to disorderly conduct, Channel 2 reported, citing police records.

A Carrabelle officer wrote that surveillance video of the incident, which was over money on a pool table, showed “Mr. Chapman … shoved Charles (a victim) in the back causing him to fall onto a table … and that Maj. Damien Mercer struck him (the victim’s brother) in the left side of the neck with an open hand.”

“(The other people involved) went outside and returned with a crowbar. The two threatened to beat and shoot me,” Chapman said in the Facebook post.

“I instinctively chased them outside. Local law enforcement was called. The person that I pushed said that if I paid him ($1,000) he wouldn’t press charges. I refused and was charged with battery. This was later changed to disorderly conduct and then dismissed.”

Chapman, who is back in the area at his vacation home, and Mercer are due in court Thursday and again Friday for arraignment, according to Channel 2.

In the Facebook post, Chapman said the charges already were dismissed.

“I hate that this happened and I’m embarrassed that it happened,” Chapman said in the Facebook post. “With that being said I can’t say that I would handled the situation any different.

“I would have brought this to your attention sooner, but I had to let the legal process take its course.”

GBI probes police-invoved shootings

ATLANTA (TNS) — The GBI is investigating three officer-involved shooting cases from Monday evening, officials said.

In Middle Georgia, a man was shot to death by a Houston County deputy, according to the Telegraph of Macon.

Just after 5 p.m., a woman called 911 and said her husband wasn’t letting her leave the house, the newspaper reported. She wanted to take a trip to Tennessee to visit friends for her birthday, neighbors said.

The woman’s husband slashed three of her car’s tires so she couldn’t go, GBI agent J.T. Ricketson said.

A deputy who responded told the GBI that the woman and her husband were outside the house, which is in the Bonaire area.

Ricketson said the deputy and the woman’s husband “had a conversation” while she went inside to pack some belongings.

“The deputy was speaking with the subject out in the front yard when he suddenly turned around and walked inside the house,” Ricketson said. “The deputy started after him. The subject turned around and had a gun in his hand and the deputy fired a couple of shots.”

The man died from at least one gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Telegraph.

In Brunswick, officers were sent about 7:13 p.m. to a stabbing, police said in a Facebook post.

An off-duty officer who responded shot a man at the scene, police said.

The man who was shot was flown to a medical facility with life-threatening injuries, according to the post. A woman who suffered stab wounds was taken to a hospital, also with life-threatening injuries.

In northwest Georgia, a Walker County deputy was stabbed and a suspect was shot, Walker County dispatch told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. in Rossville, authorities said. The officer and suspect were taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga.

The deputy was identified as J.D. Holland, according to WDEF.com, a Chattanooga television station.

Lobbyists spend big on utility regulators

ATLANTA (TNS) — Georgia’s Public Service Commissioners regulate utilities, and last month, utility lobbyists made sure the elected officials were well fed at a conference at the Lake Oconee Ritz-Carlton.

According to recently filed reports, eight lobbyists spent almost $7,700 on members and staff for a single dinner on June 12 at the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners conference.

That included lobbyists for Atlanta Gas Light, Gas South, AT&T, the Georgia Cable Association, and two lobbyists for Georgia Power.

The dinner came a few days after the PSC decided to put on hold a proposal by one of its members to ask Georgia Power to stop collecting a surcharge to finance the company’s troubled Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion.

Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald wants to halt the surcharge, which adds about $100 a year to the typical residential bill, after the recent bankruptcy of a key contractor clouded the project’s future. But other members of the five-person commission decided to delay a vote on the issue, saying they wanted to first find out from the state’s attorney general if such a move was legal.

Close ties between regulators and the regulated aren’t unheard of in Georgia. Insurance commissioners, for instance, have long collected much of their campaign money from the insurance industry they regulate.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2013 that a SCANA Energy lobbyist served as campaign treasurer for two PSC members seeking re-election the next year.

One PSC member asked a gas company lobbyist in 2012 to help arrange for his granddaughter to sing the national anthem at a Braves game. The lobbyist not only obliged but also bought his ticket to the game. For years, industry lobbyists would give PSC members gifts around Christmastime, from cookies and wine to smoked hams.

And for years, utility lobbyists have paid for meals for at least some PSC members attending conferences.