Walker County Sheriff’s officers are awarded the Rossville Exchange Club’s Jimmy Sampley Memorial Officer of the Year.Four Walker County Sheriff Office deputies were recently named the Rossville Exchange Club’s Jimmy Sampley Memorial Officer of the Year for their response to a highly publicized domestic disturbance call in late September which ended with the suspect being shot and killed.
Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said it is his honor to recognize and commend Sgt. Kevin Denny, Cpl. Cody Black and deputies Chase Galyon and Chris Wooten for the bravery and courage they exhibited on Sept. 27, 2015.
On that evening, the officers responded to 25 Cochran Drive in Rossville where Christopher Andrew Shell lived with his girlfriend of 10 years, Sabrina Bloodworth. They found her at a house across the street. She had “facial injuries and her skirt was covered in blood,” Wilson recounted.
“The victim disclosed to the deputies that her companion had beaten her unconscious,” he said.
Black and Denny got the victim out of the danger zone and loaded into an ambulance, said Wilson, then they approached Shell’s residence.
The deputies knocked on the door multiple times announcing their identity, Wilson said. While on the front porch, Galyon said he observed the suspect through a window. He was handling a rifle fitted with a scope, Galyon said.
He and Black retreated to their patrol vehicles to retrieve their rifles and shotguns and to take cover from the armed suspect. Moments later, Denny, along with deputies Wooten, Corey Griffin, Zack Simpson, Cody Black and Josh Van Dyke, arrived on the scene.
Denny said he began communicating with the armed suspect and gave him repeated verbal commands to exit the residence with his hands in the air. When Shell did emerge, he had the shotgun in his hands, and Wilson said he lifted the gun in a “threatening manner.”
“He came out with a rifle. He was instructed many times to drop his weapon,” said Black. “As he raised the weapon, we engaged in deadly force. I firmly believe he intended to hurt or kill one of us.”
When asked how it affected him, Black said, “It’s something we prepare for every day.”
“While thousands of others may have been attending Sunday evening worship services, watching Sunday Night Football or simply enjoying their families, these deputies answered the call for help not knowing the dangerous and potentially deadly environment that they were entering,” Wilson said. “In addition to nominating these deputies, I want to acknowledge the fine work of deputies Corey Griffin, Zack Simpson and Josh Van Dyke who provided the perimeter backup at the scene.”
Wilson also thanked Fort Oglethorpe Police Department’s Lt. Keith Sewell and Georgia State Patrol Troopers JW Ballard, JL Gass and SL Poteet for backing up the deputies and protecting the lives of fellow law enforcement officers.