The Walker County (Georgia) Sheriff's Office deputy who shot and killed a man in his home last year said he was scared for his life and the lives of his coworkers when he fired his weapon in an attempt to prevent him and other deputies from being shot and killed.
A newly released incident report details the early-morning hours of Jan. 1, 2018, when Rossville man Mark Parkinson was shot and killed.
The report presents the events from the perspective of three deputies: Deputy John Chandler, Sgt. Tim Perkins and Deputy Ginger Daffron.
According to Chandler's report, he and Perkins walked to a side door near the kitchen because the front door of the Parkinsons' home was closed off by Christmas decorations.
Chandler said when Perkins rang the doorbell and moved to the right of the side door, he saw movement behind the window. He then flashed his flashlight in the window and saw Mark Parkinson in a white shirt with his right arm "fully extended" and angled to the left with a black pistol in his hand.
Chandler said all he could see was Parkinson's torso. He said Parkinson pointed the gun from Perkins to Chandler. That's when Chandler shouted, "Gun!"
Chandler's re-telling of the story omits an important detail - that he heard deputies alert the people in the house that the three were from the sheriff's office.
Daffron said that she heard Perkins knocking and announcing they were from the sheriff's office in her statement.
Chandler took cover when he saw the gun, then Perkins loudly identified the group as officers and, when Chandler looked in the window again, Parkinson was pointing the pistol at him. That's when Chandler fired his gun "until the threat fell out of the view" from his gun.
"When I saw the weapon pointed in Sgt. Perkins' direction and at me, I was scared for my life," Chandler said. "I fired my weapon to prevent us from being shot and killed."
Mark Parkinson's wife and daughter - Diana and Amy - came downstairs to find Parkinson lying on the floor. Deputies said they found two black pistols in the kitchen after the shooting. One had blood on it.
Perkins took both guns, unloaded the magazines and put them on the kitchen island.
A grand jury found that Chandler did not act with criminal intent when he fatally shot Parkinson through a window. Its conclusion matches that of an internal investigation by the sheriff's office in January 2018, when department administrators found that Chandler did not violate any policies or commit any crimes.
Diana Parkinson said earlier this week that the Walker County Sheriff's Office settled a civil lawsuit outside of court for an undisclosed amount.
"We recognized it was a tragic, tragic situation," Sheriff Steve Wilson said at the time. "We still support the facts that the officer acted within policy and within the laws of the state."
The origins of the case date back to September 2017, when Amy Gass filed for divorce from Dorothy Gass' son, Steven Gass. The estranged husband and wife were in a dispute over custody.
Around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, according to phone records, Steven and Dorothy Gass talked for about 15 minutes. Soon after, Dorothy Gass called 911, reporting that she received a threatening message from Amy Gass. Supposedly, Amy Gass threatened to kill her and her children.
The complaint was not legitimate, GBI agents later determined. It was part of a custody dispute.
GBI agents later concluded that Dorothy Gass made the allegation up; phone records showed Amy and Dorothy Gass did not talk that morning.
Walker County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to Meadowview Drive in Rossville, where Amy Gass and her children lived with her parents. When they arrived around 3 a.m., dogs inside began to bark. Amy Gass' father, Mark Parkinson, walked out of his bedroom with a gun, trying to figure out why the dogs were barking.
He flipped the switch in his kitchen, which contains a big window overlooking the front porch. That's where the deputies stood. Mark Parkinson would not be able to see outside in those conditions. But on the porch, Deputy John Chandler saw a man with a gun.
During an internal affairs investigation, Chandler said he ducked and warned the two other law enforcement officers about the man inside. Seconds later, Chandler peeked into the window again and still saw Parkinson with the gun. Chandler fired three shots, killing Parkinson.
The internal affairs investigation cleared Chandler, and a grand jury ruled in September that he did not use excessive force. After the latter ruling, Diana Parkinson expressed frustration that nobody seemed to get punished as a result of her husband's death.
"It makes you feel defeated and mad and more determined than ever to bring it to civil court and get something done the correct way," she said in October 2018. "They won't get the best of me."
Three and a half months after a judge unexpectedly dismissed a case against Gass, a Walker County grand jury indicted her in October 2018, charging her with false statements, writings and concealing of facts, a felony.
GBI accused Gass of making up a story about her son's estranged wife in the midst of a custody battle.
One month later, Gass died. According to the obituary, she was 66.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.