Worth County suspect shot after high-speed chase

SYLVESTER — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate a situation in Worth County late Thursday during which a suspected burglar and dealer in stolen guns was shot and killed following a high-speed chase.

Officials say the shooting took place around 4:30 p.m. after an attempted traffic stop on U.S. Highway 82 near Peafowl Road in Worth County.

Worth County Sheriff Jeff Hobby said the driver of the vehicle ignored signals to pull over. Instead, the driver sped south on County Line Road then to Georgia Highway 133 toward Albany before losing control and crashing the vehicle into a ditch.

Four or five deputies had approached the wreck, Hobby said, when the passenger, identified as Crystal Harry, 35, of Sylacauga, Ala., exited the vehicle with a revolver in one hand and an automatic pistol in the other.

“She never fired a shot,” Hobby said. “The deputy did what he had to do.”

Hobby said 14 or 15 firearms were later found in the suspects’ vehicle, all thought to have been stolen during a burglary spree in Florida.

“They were working their way back through this area selling the guns,” Hobby said.

The driver of the vehicle, Phillip Randolph Kelly, also of Sylacauga, was arrested by the deputies and charged by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation with possession of a firearm in the commission of the crime, obstructing or hindering law enforcement, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, conspiracy to commit theft by receiving and criminal attempt to commit theft by receiving.

Hobby said the unidentified deputy who fatally shot Harry has not been placed on leave.

“All the evidence of the case is in (the deputy’s) favor,” Hobby said.

The case continues to be investigated by the GBI.