Wadley Police Shoot, Kill Suspect
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Wadley Police Shoot, Kill Suspect
One man is dead after he was shot and killed by police officers, Friday night, in the small town of Wadley, Georgia. It all started when officers responded to a domestic dispute between a father and...
One man is dead after he was shot and killed by police officers, Friday night, in the small town of Wadley, Georgia. It all started when officers responded to a domestic dispute between a father and his son. Authorities say moments later, things took a turn for the worse. WJBF News Channel 6’s Fraendy Clervaud has more.
Wadley, Ga—One man is dead after he was shot and killed by police officers, Friday night, in the small town of Wadley, Georgia. It all started when officers responded to a domestic dispute between a father and his son. Authorities say moments later, things took a turn for the worse.
The shooting happened at the corner of East Smith and North Main Street. Police say, when they arrived, Jerry Conner had a knife in his hand. His widow says her husband had been drinking and was having trouble dealing with some family issues: “In the past three year, he’s lost three immediate family members, his mother, father and brother”, she said.
Police Chief Wesley Lewis says Conner started to approach the officers with the knife in a threatening manner. One officer tried to subdue Conner with a Taser, but the device failed: “During that time they made multiple commands to drop the weapon and stop his actions, at which time Officer Paquette had to make a decision on using deadly force,“ Chief Lewis said.
Conner was rushed to a hospital in Louisville, where he later died.
His wife says the shooting was not necessary: “Why not the legs? Why not the hand? Why not his foot? Why his heart?“ she asks.
Chief Lewis says, “Shooting somebody is the last thing an officer wants to do because when you take someone’s life, it doesn’t only affect the family of the victim; it affects the officer and the department.“
The officer involved in the shooting works for the Wadley police department on a part-time basis. He’s been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the G.B.I.
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Reader Reactions
I can agree with the statement that it needs to be left up to the experts to make a decision on what needs to be done. Ultimately it comes down to this nobody can know what exactly happened besides the people that were there and saw it play out. Living in a small town “Word” gets around fast and most of the time it’s not accurate. I would certainly hope that whoever made the statement that the officer was laughing while shooting was indeed incorrect. I know several of the Wadley Police and I wouldn’t believe that any of them would do something like that. However I don’t personally know the officer in question, so all I can say is I don’t know, I hope it wasn’t a true statement. I just hope that in time the families that are involved, the victim’s and the officer’s can go on with their lives as best they can, only time can heal. Once again I just feel sorry for everyone involved and my prayers are with all the families involved.
It is a sad situation. However, I do not believe that an officer would laugh while shooting someone, especially this officer. Someone is either mistaken or lying to make that accusation. We are being told the knife-wielding man was twenty feet away. That’s close enough to justify shooting in my opinion, but we’ll have to leave that call up to the experts. I think Officer Paquette did what he was re
I live in Wadley and this incident is just a very sad situation. It’s hard for one to put themselves in the situation of a police officer who is faced with the decision to use deadly force. However I have a hard time believing that deadly force was a necessary choice in this matter. Granted an angry, intoxicated person is coming at you with a weapon, isn’t there ways of shooting to cause injury to disarm the person rather than shooting multiple times causing death even after the individual has been brought down. Once again it’s hard for someone who has never been put in the situation to pass judgement on an officer that has been put in that position. I personally just don’t think that deadly force was needed, especially when it’s reported by people that witnessed the event that the officer in question was laughing as he was shooting the man. That in my opinion is completely uncalled for and not in any way professional, and I believe that is something that should in fact be investigated and dealt with if indeed that was the case. Only the people that were on scene knows exactly what events played out and I’m sure that the truth will come out. For the family who I know members of I am so very sorry for your loss. You and your family are in my prayers.
I live in this neighborhood because our officers arent God but they do thier jobs and keep me and my family safe. Everyone is entitled to thier own opinion of this whole situation. And everyone is entitled to decline and not except things such as prayers, which is a sign of selfishness. Your blinded feelings shouldnt be a determining factor of how rude you can be to a stranger who speaks thier mind apologizes and shows sympathy for your lost. To the officer who made the decision to live and also protect his fellow officers, Good Job! No one can say how threatened the officer felt so he made a decision to use deadly force. Whether it was a two inch pocket knife or a .40 cal. hand gun or a hand made bomb this officer decided to not let situation get more out of hand than it already was. He didnt play God he kept control of the situation. When a person has consumed alcohol or any other substance things can quickly take a turn for the worst. Advertisers tell you to drink responsibly (think that went out the window). Yes his sons witnessed this tragedy but didnt this call start because Mr. Conner and his son were in a dispute. These chain of events could have all been prevented if he(Mr. Conner) had consumed his beverages better and not let that be the answer to his problems and not create a situation for the cops to be called (who called them anyway….and now you’re upset because of how things turned out) When people are given commands by some authority above them usually you follow them and when you dont sometimes there can be devistating outcomes. So are we blaming the law for our DISOBEDIENCE? And was this all PREVENTABLE? Lets NOT start putting our BAD decision making on the law when they decide they want to GO HOME at the end of the shift when they have PROTECTED all our law abiding citizens. DRINK. THINK. ACT. & BE RESPONSIBLE!!!
I read other venues, but I try hard only to comment on the presented article and/or comments regarding it. I do the same if I comment in other venues. I hope the investigation finds the truth for everyone’s peace of mind. This is truly a horrific thing for everyone close to the man and the situation to go through. I will gladly keep them in my prayers as you suggested.
I understand what you are saying and I am not being one sided about this- you said you based your comment from the story- then perhaps you should also read the reporting from other venues as well- a two inch pocket knife can kill you, but not from that distance unless you are some sort of super hero and there are handfuls of eyewitnesses to this event who saw no threatening gestures or movements from my uncle. I ask again- why continue to shoot a man who is on the ground after alrady being shot? Was the officer so “frightened” that he thought he would crawl over and stab him with a hole in his chest? Thank you for your prayers, but I don’t need them, maybe his sons and grandchildren that witnessed this and that community- I would be afraid to live somewhere where the law enforcement officers think that they are god.
The incident is being investigated; that is standard. I imagined myself in his shoes, the other officer’s taser failed, it was a domestic argument situation in which it was known the man had been drinking and he had been approaching a group of officers with a knife in a threatening manner, if this is true, someone doing these things is not being rational. The investigation will determine if he was close enough to really be a threat, but for me, a knife-wielding man starting at 20 feet away and continuing to come forward after another officer had just attempted to tase him, I would have been shooting until I was sure he was no longer a threat. A 2-inch knife can KILL you. I don’t know if the smile had any direct relevance to the death. It could have been a smile of relief after one of the others expressed thanks that the man who was shot did not successfully maim or kill one of them, but that is just a guess. I don’t know what the starting distance of the threatening situation was, or what the smile was about. I commented on what was IN the article. During his time at another school, my observation was that Paquette was level-headed, a good, steady officer. I hope that still proves to be the case. I am still sorry for your loss and will keep you in my prayers. All life is precious. I am confident the investigation will sort out if there was anything done wrong.
One more thing in response to the gentleman’s comment below- when you shoot someone in the chest, and they go to their knees, are you then scared enough of a two inch pocket knife to shoot them in the chest twice more? How is that honest and professional? Why not shoot him in the knee or even the shoulder? I thought that police officers were taught to diffuse a situation, to use force only when necessary? Is it necessary to shoot someone from 20 feet away who has no gun? And then to be seen smiling about it….
Jerry Conner was my uncle. My entire family is devastated by what has happened- if you read the stories and hear the facts you will see that the officer was 20 feet away when he shot and killed him and he had a two inch pocket knife in his hand- i know this knife it was my grandfathers knife and from 20 feet he was no threat to these officers. Wrong has been done here and you all know it
This is a fine officer, in my observation, he is honest and professional. If someone came at me with a knife, I would assume it was a matter of deadly force, and I would shoot to kill. There would be no time for another reaction when one is close enough to attack with a knife. I am sorry for the family, but it seems this is the consequence of the knife-wielder’s own actions.
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