Inmate grabs officer’s pepper spray and is shot to death at hospital, Georgia police say
An officer shot an inmate to death inside a Georgia hospital after authorities said he grabbed another officer’s pepper spray.
The 31-year-old man from Canton died in the April 23 incident at Washington County Regional Medical Center in Sandersville, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Officers were called to the shooting at about 8:45 p.m., the agency said.
Georgia Department of Corrections officers went with the man to the hospital, where he was being treated after he was stabbed in a fight with another inmate at Washington State Prison earlier that day, according to investigators.
At one point, the man and a correctional officer started fighting, authorities said. That’s when police said the inmate grabbed the officer’s can of pepper spray and used it, blinding them.
The inmate then approached a second officer and sprayed her, according to investigators. The officer opened fire, hitting him, the GBI said.
He died at the scene, investigators said.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said it will investigate the stabbing that injured the inmate. The GBI said it is investigating the shooting.
Sandersville is about a 60-mile drive east from Macon.