CUTHBERT, Ga. (AP) -- A southwest Georgia police chief is back on administrative leave while prosecutors decide whether they will criminally charge him in a March shooting.
Cuthbert Police Chief Kevin Flowers shot and killed 18-year-old Koby Edwards in what investigators say was an exchange of gunfire.
District Attorney Ronald McNease Jr. tells WALB-TV that he hasn't decided yet whether he will charge Flowers. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation turned their report over to McNease in May, but the prosecutor says he's waiting on an autopsy report.
Flowers tried to stop Edwards while investigating an auto break-in. Flowers and at least one other officer chased Edwards on foot. The GBI report says the three all fired their guns. Flowers hit Edwards, said Cuthbert city attorney Tommy Coleman.
The city put Flowers on administrative leave and later brought him back on desk duty with McNease's approval. But after residents protested, the mayor and city council put Flowers back on leave.
Flowers, chief since 2019, is declining comment for now.
"They have certainly been able to keep a lid on it, unlike Atlanta and some other places," Coleman said of residents who have held multiple protests over Edwards' death. "But nonetheless, the sooner it's resolved, the better the community, one way or the other, is going to be."