02x03 - AK on the Highway

[bunniefuu]

This match we're going

through, we're staying straight,

we're going a hundred miles an hour.

This car is in our city.

Your adrenaline is just

absolutely through the roof.

When you're talking about

a Fast and Furious movie

I need a 10-52.

In my mind, I was ready for a shootout.

We are eastbound.

via Graceland.

He's got a out-of-state 28.

We'll stop here at the green exit.

He took off when I started walking

up. We're getting off onto 27.

He's making a left onto 27 northbound.

He is going on I20 eastbound,

If you can get them here,

they are already on stand by.

The city of Villa Rica is about 13

miles from the initial stop location.

And at that time, I sent my

officers down to the exit ramps

to see how we could

intervene or help the trooper.

Wait for the track to ease up a little bit

before it's going to be it.

I'll probably get more here.

10-4, PIT.

He got him back on the road.

All right, shots fired.

Shots fired with an AK.

An AK-47 is essentially a .30 caliber

weapon that can do a lot of damage.

It can disable vehicles.

It can go through soft armor.

It's nothing you

really want to tangle with.

The shots ricochet off the hood

and into the engine block

of Trooper Pruitt's patrol vehicle,

as well as into his windshield.

The suspects had every opportunity

to disengage

and essentially just get away,

but they didn't.

Shots fired. Standby. Shots fired.

sh**t at me with an AK.

All right, he's a shot in the motor out.

He's in a Nissan heading eastbound.

Trooper Pruitt used to work with us

at Carrollton Police Department.

We're family. I mean,

we're like brothers.

I'd been a corporal of maybe two years,

and I had around seven to eight

guys on night shift at that time.

Although our shift had worked

multiple shootings over the years,

we have not had

an officer-involved sh**ting,

nor have we had any of us shot at.

We had no idea where the vehicle was.

We don't know

that it's coming to Carrollton.

It could go to several

other cities around us.

We knew that we had a temporary plate

that was a dealership,

possibly in Alabama,

that began with a B.

And that's what we were looking for.

A lot of the guys

on shift at this time were young.

If this does go bad,

are they ready for it?

I took US-27 at Columbia Drive.

Once I got there, I turned all

my headlights, interior lights,

everything off,

because I didn't want to be seen.

I was hoping to see

that car before that car saw me.

And I'm antsy, but I'm also confident.

It's a very similar feeling

to sitting in the locker room.

Like you know you're about to go to w*r,

but at the same time, you don't

know what it's going to be like.

I knew we were looking for a Sedan.

I knew we were looking for an Alabama tag.

If I encounter this car,

what am I going to do?

What actions am I gonna take?

Every time I saw headlights,

it was like your heart

starts beating a little bit faster.

Then you see the car drive in

front of you, and it's not the car.

And you just take that big,

deep breath. Okay.

I had one of my officers

viewing our traffic cameras

across the city to make

sure we didn't miss the vehicle.

He was able to find what

he believed to be that vehicle.

This car's in our city.

Your adrenaline is just

absolutely through the roof.

It's just an immediate adrenaline dump.

You know, your heart starts

racing, and it's go time.

Maybe the vehicle's going

to attempt to get back

to the nearest interstate.

So I drove, trying to cut the vehicle off.

I was seeing a group of cars.

I noticed one of the vehicles

kind of make a sudden turn.

I turned my spotlight on,

pointing directly at the tag,

just trying to verify.

I realized these are the guys

that shot at Trooper Pruitt.

- Coming up now on your right.

- Alright, be smart.

There is our spot, two blocks

Sergeant Rob Holloway was my supervisor,

and he was calling out

and transmitting

all radio traffic on my behalf.

6-6, back off of them,

back off, let's see what they do.

Dispatch, we're right here

going 69 miles an hour,

waiting to see what we do.

We're turning right on Bankhead Highway.

All right, get me some people up here.

Let's get ready to do a felony stop.

If not, we will PIT.

It was a million feelings

rushing through my body.

The driver is driving at speeds

triple or more of the speed limit.

They have total disregard for human life.

In my mind, I'm willing to give up mine

if I need to get in this pursuit.

The suspect began firing

a volley of shots at me.

I think my chest

was beating out of my vest.

This doesn't make sense.

This doesn't happen in Carrollton.

When you're talking about

a Fast and Furious movie

All right, back off. We're

going to follow at this distance.

Dispatch, we're going 60 miles an hour.

Bankhead Highway,

we're passing Barnes Store.

Get Villa Rica set up.

Spikes at Bay Springs.

The spike strip essentially

would deflate the vehicle's tires.

The vehicle would have no option

but to come to a complete stop.

Let's make sure we're

backed off just enough, okay?

Dispatch, we are going about 90 miles now.

We are coming up on Old Airport Road.

Where am I at in this lineup? We

know Corporal Cheatwood is first.

Sergeant Holloway is going to be second.

He's calling out that chase,

and we're behind him.

We're still an eighth mile

behind the chase.

10-4, we good. I see him.

I make it to the intersection

with Officer Brice,

and I swear, Brice, I swear he cut me off.

I don't know where

he was at, but I might have

I know I dusted him.

I know that much.

Dispatch, we're coming through.

We're staying straight.

We're going a hundred

miles an hour, dispatch.

Me and Officer Brice

are just trying to close distance

so there's enough support.

So, Cheatwood and Holloway

wouldn't necessarily be alone.

Creating space between that suspect

and myself was important to survival.

The AK-47 they were using would

easily penetrate our body armor.

I need to know how far

Villa Rica's gonna be

before they go down on spike.

We're about to be coming up on Triangle,

they're hitting their brakes.

We'll see what they are about to do.

As we were approaching the triangle,

in my mind, I was ready for a shootout.

As rounds started being fired

Rob's vehicle drifted into my lane.

I had to put my brakes on

to keep from just our cars

rubbing against one another.

I thought maybe they had shot

his tire and blew a tire out.

I saw sparks flying everywhere.

I saw Rob hit

a light pole at a rapid speed.

Rob. Rob.

I need a f*cking 10-52

just up from the triangle.

I need a 10-52!

West Georgia Auto Transmission.

City officer unresponsive.

Driver's seat. Head on collision.

I began to shake Rob.

I saw blood dripping down

the front of his vest.

I see one single b*llet hole through

his windshield at head level.

And I knew he had been shot in the head.

No!

- Hey, hey!

- I see it. I see it.

Somebody yells, "They're power lines.

Don't touch them,

they're power lines."

So, I have to go

a little east of Rob's car,

jump the power line,

and then run back to Rob's vehicle.

- You're okay. You're okay, baby.

- Rob, Rob, keep it cool.

And his head's

kind of turned away from me.

And he's looking through the

windshield, and his eyes are open.

But he's snoring.

That noise that he's doing,

we commonly refer

to it as the death rattle.

When you hear somebody doing that noise,

you know that they're not far from death.

I thought it was the last time

I was going to see him.

Where's suspect vehicle?

It's confusing.

The scenes are confusing.

You still don't know, are the

suspects here? Where are they at?

Because I wasn't sure. I thought

everybody had wrecked together.

I'm running about 120

miles an hour trying to catch up.

I was mad and I was upset

because another fellow

officer had just been hurt.

They are still a hard target.

We're staying straight.

We had two deputies that were

trying to maintain a safe distance

while they were chasing, because

the guy was still sh**ting at them.

All right, shots fired.

Dispatch, I need an ambulance setting up,

and I need an air evac

setting up closest to my location.

Come on, Rob. You're okay.

Rob. Rob, look at me. Hold on.

While we're screaming at him,

he takes a big, deep breath,

starts blinking. He turns

towards us and looks at us,

and that's when I can see the wind

to the right side of his head.

You're okay, Rob. Rob, you're okay.

His head is just blown open,

and it looks like a busted watermelon.

We need an ambulance now.

Get your med bag. I need it now.

- You're okay, baby.

- I got a bandage. Come on, come on.

He's bleeding profusely.

We have to get him out of the car

so we can stop the bleeding.

Here he is! Med bag!

I got him.

It's just very gruesome.

There's blood everywhere.

This is it. Rob is going to die.

We got you, Rob. We got you.

We're talking life and death.

We know that seconds matter.

Dispatch, what's my ETA on ambulance?

I want to be back

in the car. I can't get an ETA.

The fastest thing

is not to wait for that ambulance.

We need a helicopter. While

we're very familiar with the area,

We know a helicopter is not

going to land at the triangle.

Bring me a car right here, down this road.

And we got to get a car. And so

I'm like, hey, that's work I can do.

I got it! I got it!

So just that team cohesiveness

is like just full on at that point.

I'd almost say we're robotic.

Cars ready, cars ready.

We're going to backtrack

from where we are now

to a safer location that we

call an LZ landing zone.

One, two, three, up!

It really dawned on me at that point that,

somebody I care about has

been hurt in the severity of it.

I'm not losing hope as much as I'm just,

I'm desperately

clinging to hope at this point.

Go, go!

It's okay, buddy.

Having him in the back of my car

with another officer

just trying to talk to him.

Hang in there, Rob!

That was the toughest moment

I've had to deal with there.

But my emotions had just

gotten to me at that point.

I remember needing to get to Rob's house.

As I said, we're very close.

I knew where he lived.

I knew his wife personally.

I need you. I need you

to not have no blood on you.

- Who don't have blood?

- I got blood on me.

I had blood from the tip

of my fingers to my elbows,

and I knew that

I couldn't leave to go get his wife.

You are going to go

to his home in just a minute,

and we're going to get Stephanie, okay?

We had two deputies

following the suspects at that point.

I'm maybe half a minute behind them.

Corporal Trout and Deputy Reed,

they're about 3 quarters

of a mile in front of me.

The two deputies were trying to

keep the vehicle in visual contact,

but they were also

kind of hanging back a little

because one suspect was

sh**ting a high-powered r*fle.

He's just randomly sh**ting.

A r*fle like that has

a longer k*ll distance.

That b*llet, it can go over a mile

in a straight line

and still k*ll somebody.

I was about 30 seconds away

from catching up with him,

and Corporal Trout advised

that the vehicle left the roadway,

and went into a wooded area

on the right side of the road.

- Where are y'all?

- Where they at?

Don't let it in the woods.

Don't let it in the woods.

We're at the car.

And there was like an old dirt path there

that they actually went down into.

So the vehicle was sitting in the woods.

At that point in time, we really

didn't know where they were at.

These guys seemed to be intent

on targeting law enforcement.

You got movement? He's got movement.

- Which way?

- Looks like it's coming from there.

When I arrived on scene,

the Carroll County Sheriff's Office

had already started forming a basic

perimeter right up on the roadway.

Where are they at?

There's two armed

suspects in the darkness,

and they know where we're at,

and we don't have a clue where they're at.

I just knew that this was probably

not going to end in a good way.

- Who got hit, city?

- Rob got hit.

- Dispatch, check on staff support.

- Rob got hit?

- Rob got hit.

- Son of a b*tch.

At the moment, a flood

of emotions kind of came about me,

because I think

very highly of Rob Holloway,

and I consider us to be friends.

Oh, man.

You're hoping that he lives,

that he's got a fighting chance.

But just based upon all the facts,

it feels like the worst is imminent.

Where's the helicopter?

That's all I care about.

Where's the f*cking helicopter, man?

- Two minutes on the chopper.

- Here, here.

Two minutes on the chopper.

We start hearing

the helicopter in the distance,

and I run to the back of my patrol

car and get basically glow sticks.

We start throwing them out

to mark this landing zone.

Let's go!

When the helicopter lands,

that's when all

the emotions start to kick in,

because that's when we

gave Rob to these people

and our hands are no longer involved.

I remember feeling just sad, angry,

lost. That's when it got tough.

Well, guys, this one's in your hands.

Just be with Rob and bring him to us,

okay? Help him get to us. Amen.

In your hands, we love you.

And we all walk arms with each

other and Hicks just starts to pray.

And basically pray that Rob makes it.

Coming together and praying

was probably the

only thing that got us

through that moment.

I don't know. It was very hard.

I mean, I was just defeated.

I know. I was defeated.

And I didn't think Rob would make it.

I received a phone call

from Rob's lieutenant.

He asked me to come

to the door, that he was there,

and I just assumed

that Rob had left something

or he needed to pick something up.

And when I went to the door,

his lieutenant was there along

with the day shift lieutenant,

and I knew that something

bad had happened.

I knew that if someone had

to be airlifted from a situation

that their injuries were substantial.

And so I was terrified

of what had happened.

I was praying and begging

God to save his life.

I'm just worried that

they're going to carjack

- somebody out here in a second.

- I agree.

Our concern was with that, you

know, the safety of the civilians.

You know, if they're out of a car,

so to speak, they might

be looking for another car.

If they kept going down this wood

line, there's a neighborhood here.

- Legend Drive's a nice neighborhood.

- You got something going there?

There's a possibility that they might

go down into the residential area

and try and steal a car there.

We're also concerned

at that point in time with,

besides setting up the perimeter,

we have to get other officers or deputies

to assist with the civilian

traffic going into work.

Because at this point, we've got 50

to 60 cars backed up behind us,

and they're just sitting there.

So, we had to get deputies

to take care of that also

and get that traffic moved

and get them out of the way,

because we didn't want

the suspects sh**ting

over the roadway or into the roadway,

and a chance of hitting a passing vehicle.

You and Gordy. You take

Gordy with you. Go ahead.

I directed several of my officers

upon Whitworth Road

to contain the suspects

in a generalized area and to keep

them from fleeing any further.

Can you call for a helicopter!

Dispatch, can we get a bird in the air?

I felt like I wasn't doing

enough quickly enough.

Time felt like it had slowed

and sped all at the same time.

Shots fired.

- We got shots fired.

- Shots fired.

It came from over there.

46! Ya'll 10-4! 46! Where ya'll at?

It was coming from

the vicinity of the perimeter

that I placed my officers upon.

And I just knew that they

were involved at that point.

To me, I just wanted to get down

there. I needed to get down there.

Corporal Trout yelled, let's go.

And I jumped in his car.

- It's going to be right in here.

- Yeah.

I'm too close.

- Want to stop right here?

- Yeah.

We could see a police vehicle

with lights on down in front of us.

About 25, 30 yards maybe.

I was actually looking to see

if I could see anybody

down on the side of the road,

or anything like that.

I knew there was a Villa Rica officer

that had been involved in a shootout.

But I didn't know where he was at.

Hey, let's move down. Come on.

When the suspect

first shot through the windshield

This is gonna sound weird

but I saw a ball of glass

coming through the windshield

towards me, and then I did feel

like I got hit with a baseball bat.

I don't remember how I did it,

but I ended up out on the ground.

And the shots stopped, and I thought

Corporal Trout had been k*lled.

Next thing I know,

the suspect comes around

in front of the vehicle.

He's looking at me.

He's kind of stumbling.

And he's trying to bring his r*fle

up. And I pulled out my revolver.

And I shot him.

Where'd you at?

I'm going to secure him!

At that point, I exited my patrol vehicle.

Let me see your hands!

And Corporal Trout was

standing in an upright position,

and Deputy Rapetto

was sitting upon the ground,

kind of clutching his arm.

Prior to getting to the scene,

my officers were on that perimeter,

Officer Gordy and Officer Shepard.

But I didn't know where they were at.

- Where is Gordy?

- He is down.

And at that point, it hits me

that something's

happened to Officer Gordy.

I am going down there to my guy.

My guy's shot too!

I didn't know where Gordy was at.

I just knew that I had to get to him.

There was still another suspect out there.

We didn't know where he was at.

Is he going to locate him before I do?

Stay on post.

Hearing Officer Gordy key up on the radio

was a sigh of relief, because

I knew that he was still alive.

Come on, we're going

to drag him. I need cover.

He's been shot multiple times, guys.

Get me, get me, get me.

I could see blood, you know,

coming from his person.

He had blood smeared on his face.

- We gonna get up! I got you brother!

- My eyes!

Based upon the wounds that I saw,

I felt like he had a fighting chance.

We now have three police

officers that have been shot

that have been injured.

We still have one suspect

still out there on the loose.

Georgia State Patrol

had their aviation team inbound.

His location was still unknown.

We were still considering him

just as armed

and dangerous as the first suspect.

The fight's not done. We're going

to get back in this until it's over.

We ain't done.

We're doing the best we can.

We're doing the best we can.

Go ahead.

One of the suspects is in the yard.

Hey, they got one in the yard.

There's one in the yard.

Dispatch advised me

that they received a 911 call

from a resident in the area

advising that she believed there

was a man hiding in her backyard.

It's a storage unit,

get down here by the storage unit.

We're still concerned

that there could be a third

or fourth g*n battle.

I believe that's a VSP SWAT.

They engaged and they're going in.

In reality, it makes no sense.

They have direct comms with the bird.

The helicopter walked the SWA

team in step by step to the location

of our second suspect.

They got him.

After the SWAT team

had detained the suspect,

they walked him out of the wood line.

His head was kind of hung,

his shoulders were drooped,

and at that time it was

just a sigh of relief overall.

You felt like, hey, it's over.

Nobody else is going to get hurt.

Early morning mayhem in Carroll County

sent three officers to the hospital

and left one of the suspects dead.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office

has identified the surviving suspect

as 22-year-old Aaron Shelton.

We expect two of the three officers'

medics rushed to the hospital

to return home soon.

The third, Carrollton

Sgt. Rob Holloway,

remains in Grady's Intensive Care Unit.

We knew that every day

that he survived was better,

and the odds got better every day.

But it wasn't until

three or four days later

that we all met as a shift again.

We got a FaceTime call.

And on the other end

of that FaceTime call was Rob.

Love you guys. See y'all when

I get out. If my head's fixed.

Rob is a fighter

and he has a warrior spirit.

He doesn't give up and he doesn't

let anything get the best of him.

Here he is.

It was very overwhelming.

There were so many people from our

family, from law enforcement family.

Coming home, it was such an honor

and such a humbling experience.

It was wonderful.

On behalf of Carrollton County 911

and the citizens of Carrollton County,

we would like to welcome you home.

Your bravery and dedication to serve

will never go unnoticed or unrecognized.

On the night of April 11th,

being shot in the head

my life was almost taken.

During the initial pursuit,

I told the members of our shift

to be prepared for a gunfight.

All right, back it off. We're

going to follow at this distance.

Cheatwood had gotten

close to the suspect vehicle.

I began to tell Cheatwood,

we're too close. Back off.

Dispatch, we're going through.

We're going 100 miles an hour, dispatch.

The last final destination

that I remember passing

would be Old Airport Road.

That's all I can tell you before

my head was nearly blown off.

I remember hearing somebody

saying, Rob, you're okay.

You've been shot, and the chief knows.

- You're okay, baby.

- Keep it real. Stay with me, Rob.

- Stay with me.

- You're okay.

There is nothing

about the chase that I regret.

We were able to stop a suspect

that had shot at an officer.

Physically, I'm okay.

Mentally, though

I've been diagnosed with PTSD,

anxiety, some

depression, things like that.

It's gotten better, though,

with therapy that I've been getting.

I'm able to deal with it a lot better.

Although the pursuit and

the scheme of things lasted,

you know, minutes.

The events of that night,

I think, will live on forever.

When you go through something

traumatic like this together,

you grow as a group.

Seeing Rob's progress, helped

a lot of us heal. Rob's positivity.

The lives of a lot of people in our

community are forever changed

because of that night.

There was a lot of tension

between law enforcement

and the general public

at that time. And I felt like

from the heroic actions

of all of the officers involved,

our community became closer together.

The process is slow

on the road to recovery.

But trust the process, perseverance,

how bad do you want it?

But don't ever give up.