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Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150336
09/03/2009 11:31 AM
09/03/2009 11:31 AM
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A developing story out of Georgia.

Surveillance video here.

Church pastor Jonathan Ayers was shot and killed by undercover narcotics officers during a botched drug sting on Tuesday afternoon. Ayers was not the target of the investigation.

Police were apparently after a woman Ayers had dropped off just prior to stopping at the convenience store where police confronted him. Surveillance video shows a black SUV pulling up to the store, and plain-clothes officers jumping out with their guns drawn before the vehicle has stopped. Ayers’ car then backs into the picture, and the officers fire into his car as he drives off.

Ayers was shot in the liver, crashed his car a short distance later, and died at the hospital the bullet wound.

A police spokesperson says the officers identified themselves as they got out of the truck, though even if they did, it isn’t difficult to see how someone in Ayers’ position might panic when confronted with armed, plain-clothes men who’d just jumped from a black SUV. He had also just returned from getting money from the store’s ATM.

There were no drugs in Ayers’ car.

Quote
Family and friends of a Lavonia minister gunned down Tuesday by an undercover police officer continue to look for answers about how he died.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said Jonathan Ayers, 29, was not the target of their sting operation and that authorities were looking for a woman they say Ayers dropped off minutes before the shooting. That woman, whose name has not been released, had been charged with cocaine possession and distribution, he said.

Ayers’ family maintains he was not involved in illegal drug activity.

“He is one of the Godliest men I’ve ever known,” his brother-in-law Matt Carpenter told AccessNorthGa.com. “We’re all shocked and absolutely do not believe he was involved in anything illicit or illegal there.”

Carpenter also told AccessNorthGa.com that the family was first informed Ayers died in a traffic accident, and then that he had been shot. Hours later, they learned he died in an officer-involved shooting.

Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers dropped off the sting suspect in downtown Toccoa around 2:30 p.m. and that two agents from the joint task force -- composed of officers from Stephens, Habersham and Rabun counties -- followed the pastor and attempted to question him.

WNEG-TV has surveillance video showing Ayers casually entering a Shell convenience store in Toccoa around 2:30 p.m.

According to that video, a black SUV carrying undercover officers pulls into the parking lot after Ayers left the store.

The pastor tried to avoid them, Shirley said Wednesday, striking one of the agents after putting his car in reverse.

“They yelled, ‘Police. Stop,’” Shirley said.

Witnesses to the incident also said the officers identified themselves, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.

Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers maneuvered his car towards another agent in a “threatening manner.” However, that is unclear from the video.

Shirley first said that one shot was fired by one of the three agents on the scene, striking the pastor in the upper torso. WNEG-TV reports that Shirley said the agent fired two shots into the car.

Ayers drove off before losing control of the vehicle a block away, striking a telephone pole, Shirley said.

Ayers was pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia. On his blog, he wrote, “I have three loves in my life: Jesus Christ, my wife Abby, and the Church.”

The couple was expecting their first child.

Shirley would not reveal the identity of the woman arrested in the sting. The agent struck by the pastor’s vehicle was treated and released from a local hospital, Shirley said.

“Jonathan would have wanted to witness to the police officers involved in the shooting,” his family said in a statement.

The GBI is investigating the shooting. The task force agents involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay, Shirley said.
Ayers leaves behind a wife who is four months pregnant.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150337
09/03/2009 02:54 PM
09/03/2009 02:54 PM
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The Examiner story.

Quote
A grainy surveillance video (below) from a nearby store shows Jonathan Ayers walking into the convenience store. Then the video switches to outside as two drug task-force agents emerge from a black SUV before Ayers' small car backs up. The agents fire into the passenger side of Ayers' car, and then it takes off with the agents running behind it.

It appears from the video that the police frightened Ayers, by rushing the SUV up to his car and jumping out without putting the SUV into park, and when they come up on him with guns out (and are in plain clothes) he attempts to drive away.
Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150338
09/04/2009 12:34 PM
09/04/2009 12:34 PM
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I have tried commenting on this story several times since you posted, AF. I had to walk away each time. It is very difficult to post what I really want to post without sounding unnecessarily bitter.

Simply put, there are still some good LEO's in our country today. But, they have become such a minority, that many of them are looking for ways to get off the force, get early retirement, or get transferred to non-public contact position. They see the handwriting on the wall, and they want out.

"Law Enforcement" is almost at the point where the word "law" is meaningless. "Enforcement" is left. Enforcement of what ? They do as they please without regard of human life, and the judicial system backs them up. Tase, shoot, chase, and kill. It is now happening several times every day. Used to be an outrageous and unusual thing for those in "Law Enforcement.".

The phrase "To Protect and Serve" has become a sick public joke. The shooting of this pastor is a typical example. Where are the ROE ? They have none. They simply do whatever comes into their minds. WHO were they protecting by shooting this man ? Who were they serving by shooting into that vehicle ?

I'd better post before I walk away again.


----------------------------------
"Take heed: watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is." -- Mark 13:33.
Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150339
09/04/2009 01:48 PM
09/04/2009 01:48 PM
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Quote
Originally posted by fal3:
I have tried commenting on this story several times since you posted, AF. I had to walk away each time. It is very difficult to post what I really want to post without sounding unnecessarily bitter.
I only posted it, I haven't really commented on it, either. I honestly can't think of anything to say.

Mr. Ayers had just withdrawn money from an ATM. Armed men rushed him. What was he supposed to think? Robbery? Carjacking? Both? "Police" would not have been the first thing entering my mind, either. Of course he tried to flee, and took defensive measures! Wouldn't anybody?

Sometimes there just isn't anything to say.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150340
09/04/2009 07:17 PM
09/04/2009 07:17 PM
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mad


If we are to remain free, all good men should join their local militia and learn to fight tyranny on every level and by any means necessary.
If you live in Ohio and would like to participate in Militia training contact the OVC
Ohio Volunteer Corps
Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150341
09/08/2009 06:00 AM
09/08/2009 06:00 AM
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Gone are the days of the friendly neighborhood cop.

Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150342
09/13/2009 05:10 AM
09/13/2009 05:10 AM
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Dosadi Offline
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Quote
Originally posted by Tahawus:
Gone are the days of the friendly neighborhood cop.
:p
careful my friend, you are dangerously close to what I have been told elsewhere is

Generic Cop Bashing.
laugh


Dosadi

Local solutions for local problems
Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150343
10/07/2009 04:48 PM
10/07/2009 04:48 PM
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airforce Online content OP
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The woman who was later arrested on drug charges, is talking.

Kayla Barrett, a 26-year-old admitted drug addict, says Ayers had no involvement in drug activity, had tried for several years to help her get her life straightened out, and was helping her get home on the day of his death. She says she isn’t a prostitute, has never been charged with that crime, and is refuting insinuation on some comment threads to news stories that Ayers was having an affair with her. Barrett says she’d had a miscarriage 11 days before Ayers was killed, and was “not capable” of sex.

Quote
Barrett said Ayers saw her walking from the Exxon station across from the Shell station (where he eventually was shot) back toward Relax Inn, where she and her fiancé were staying.

Since she had experienced a miscarriage 11 days prior and she visibly was having difficulty walking, Barrett said Ayers offered her a ride back to the motel.

“I was in his car for probably about five to seven minutes – and it was probably 20-30 minutes before he got shot,” Barrett said.

“When I got in the car, I was telling him about my recent miscarriage,” she said.

Barrett said she was paying $30 per day to stay at Relax Inn and, on Sept. 1, was three days behind. Her fiancé, who was staying there with her, had hurt his back and was unable to work, she said.

She said they had been doing “odd jobs” and “yard work” to make money.

Barrett said she asked Ayers if he could help her out with the back rent, and that he gave “all the money he had on him” – $23.

“His last words to me were I didn’t owe him anything,” Barrett said. “Probably 15-20 minutes after that I could hear the shots.”
Giving the woman all the cash he had on him, would explain why Pastor Ayers stopped at the Exxon ATM moments before his death.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150344
10/08/2009 04:25 PM
10/08/2009 04:25 PM
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I've tried to keep up with this very tragic situation. The name of the GBI trainer has been released, and there has been unofficial rumors about the names of the actual men involved. HOWEVER, nothing is being done by the State's Attorney's Office ("We will make a thorough investigation."--yeah, like when all the evidence gets lost, misplaced, or contaminated).

I believe in the Biblical teaching on forgiveness. However, Jesus didn't tell us to forgive those who don't ask for forgiveness. He commands us to forgive those who repent. I don't see any of that going on by the GBI and the local Sheriff's office.

There hasn't been any news of Ayer's family filing a civil lawsuit against them, either. Frankly, if they don't, and if the State's Attorney doesn't file criminal charges, these thugs will probably--at some future time--do the same thing to some other innocent people.

There is a difference between forgiveness and refusing to let the person do the same crime again.


----------------------------------
"Take heed: watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is." -- Mark 13:33.
Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150345
10/08/2009 04:40 PM
10/08/2009 04:40 PM
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A big difference.


It doesn't matter how you start something, or how you do in the middle. It matters how you finish it
Paramilitary SKS
Re: Georgia Pastor Killed in Drug Sting #150346
10/08/2009 11:25 PM
10/08/2009 11:25 PM
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There is supposed to be a final investigation report coming out at the end of the month and then we will see what happens from there. The shooters have not been officially named yet, but the names which are coming up as most likely to have been present are Chance Oxner and Billy Shane Harrison. There is apparently also a Black officer who was present, and he is seen in one of the videos. His role is not yet clear and he remains unidentified.

Oxner had been the leader of a small drug task force unit for a long time. Harrison had recently worked as a security contractor in Iraq and is thought to have a military background.

Part of what is confusing is that the men apparently resemble each other, and it has not been made clear as to who is who in the video, or which one was an actual shooter. There was one officer present who was behind the wheel of the Escalade the whole time who did not shoot, and we don't have any confirmation on who is who.

I consider the identification of Oxner being there as pretty definite, but it is currently unknown if he was one of the two shooters.

Billy Shane Harrison has been identified but not verified as one of the shooters, and a big part of my doubts surround the fact that he has a facebook page with pictures that don't look a whole lot like anyone in the videos, but the Billy Shane Harrison in Facebook is the Georgia LE guy in question.

Something mentioned in another forum is that Georgia is NOT one of the states where it is OK to shoot a fleeing felon. That is a major point against the officers involved, and if Harrison was one of the shooters and had been hired due to his prior training in an ROE where it is acceptable to shoot a fleeing suspect or fleeing felon, then there is major liability on the part of GBI although criminal liability on Harrison may be a gray area. I think it would probably support a manslaughter conviction though.

Regardless of "fleeing felon suspect" doctrine, it should also be noted that had Ayers been high on dope and just gotten his knob polished by the girl, both are misdemeanor offenses and would not normally justify a "guns drawn felony stop" treatment.

The fact that the girl was not even present and that they had been under surveillance for some time could indicate some prior malice on the part of the senior officer who made a strategic decision to use speed, surprise and violence of action on Ayers in order to gain the psychological shock value derived from threatening Ayers life at gunpoint.

Obviously the officers were prepared to back up their threat of deadly force with actual deadly force, but that having entered into the equation is where the Malice issue could enter the case, and if that Malice was considered an element of their decision to draw down, or the group leader deciding on a life threatening escalation of force, then it could support a murder conviction.

So the real question is going to be when does it become malice to use life threatening "shock and awe" tactics as a means of gaining an upper hand in negotiating for cooperation from someone who has met with a suspect? That issue is the one which could have much wider implications in the way law enforcement officials interact with the public.


Life liberty, and the pursuit of those who threaten them.

Trump: not the president America needs, but the president America deserves.

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