Prosecutor: Georgia deputies justified in fatal shooting

Police patrol car with sirens off during a traffic control.
Police patrol car with sirens off during a traffic control.

MACON, Ga. (AP) - State investigators found Georgia deputies were justified in fatally shooting a man suspected of tying up his wife, taking their three children and later crashing into three patrol cars outside her home when he returned, a prosecutor said Monday.

Macon-Bibb District Attorney David Cooke announced the findings of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe into the death of Keith Young, WMAZ-TV reported.

Cooke said at a virtual news conference that no charges will be filed against deputies who shot the 30-year-old man on May 19. The deputies had been called to the home that day to investigate a reported domestic disturbance and possible kidnapping.

Young's wife told deputies when they arrived at the home that day that the couple had been going through a divorce and that Young had tied her up and escaped with their children, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said in a news release afterward. She told deputies she got free and ran to a neighbor's house to call for help.

While the deputies were taking a report and speaking to the woman outside the home, Young returned to the neighborhood and sped up suddenly towards them, striking three patrol cars and another parked vehicle, according to the news release.

That's when deputies fired gunshots at Young, the statement added.

Young later died at a hospital.

The news release said one deputy inside a patrol car sustained non-life threatening injuries. The children were found to be with Young's family and were returned to their mother, the news release said.

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