MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A middle Georgia police officer shot a man on Wednesday who is suspected of breaking into five businesses between his release from jail on Tuesday afternoon and his capture before dawn on Wednesday.
The Union-Recorder reports that 50-year-old Antonio Craig Martin was shot in the foot by a Milledgeville police officer and taken to a Macon hospital. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading an inquiry into the shooting,
GBI Agent Mary Chandler said in a news release that a Milledgeville officer saw Martin around 4 a.m. driving a vehicle that had been reported as involved in the burglary of a gas station in the town around 1:40 a.m. The officer chased the vehicle, which wrecked in the woods near a downtown park. Chandler said the officer heard a loud noise and shot at Martin, wounding him. No gun belonging to Martin had been found as of Wednesday afternoon.
Martin, an Atlanta resident, was released from the Putnam County jail in Eatonton on Tuesday after he was arrested Aug. 24 for a probation violation. Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence said Martin then broke into a liquor store and a car repair business there, taking a truck. Police say he drove to Milledgeville, burglarizing the gas station at 1:40 a.m. Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord said Martin then drove to Sparta and broke into two stores there before returning to Milledgeville, where he was spotted around 4 a.m. at another gas station.
No charges had yet been brought against Martin on Wednesday.
The unnamed police officer was not injured.
The GBI says it’s the 68th shooting involving a law enforcement officer that it has been asked to investigate this year. The local district attorney will decide if criminal charges should be shot once GBI finishes its inquiry.
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