Man shot dead with machine gun in front of gas station: GBI
The GBI is investigating a fatal shooting involving Athens-Clarke County police. In the shooting, a man, reportedly armed with a machine gun, was shot outside a QuickTrip.
ATHENS, Georgia. – In Athens, a shootout between Athens-Clarke County police and an armed suspect led to chaos outside a QuikTrip gas station on Lexington Road early Sunday morning.
Cellphone video obtained by FOX 5 shows the tense scene after police shot and killed 26-year-old Marquavious Sims – who was seen lying on the ground next to about a dozen witnesses.
“This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often here in Athens,” a witness told FOX 5.
According to GBI officials, a caller reported that Sims was waving a “machine gun” in front of a Verizon store across the street.
When police arrived at the scene, Sims ran toward the QuikTrip. Officers chased him and ordered him to put down the gun before Sims fired at them. They returned fire, hitting him multiple times.
The video shows officers attempting to help Sims, who later died in hospital.
A man who wished to remain anonymous told FOX 5 that he owns a nearby store. He said he was closing up his store when he heard the commotion outside.
“All of a sudden I heard a whole series of gunshots, it sounded like the Fourth of July… as I was walking around there I noticed a black man lying on the ground covered in blood,” he recalled. “I’m going to pray for the family… we live in a crazy world today.”
A woman who frequents the gas station said she was stunned when she learned what had happened.
“When I heard that, I was surprised … I just thought, ‘Wow, you know, so I’ll just say I’m sorry for the family that just lost their loved one, you know … it could have been mine, it could have been anyone else,'” she said.
Sims’ body was taken to the GBI crime lab for an autopsy. A department spokesman said the two officers who shot him have been placed on leave pending the completion of the GBI’s investigation.
