Eight Deputies Fired in Atlanta Courthouse Shootings
Eight deputies, mostly senior managers, were fired as a result of the Fulton County Sheriff Department’s investigation into the courthouse shootings that left three people dead.
8 deputies fired in wake of courthouse shootings (AJC)
Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman fired eight deputies Friday, nearly five months after an inmate on trial allegedly overpowered a deputy, took her gun and killed three people at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta. Freeman also suspended without pay two other officers, and three other deputies were given written reprimands or “counseling.”
The sheriff refused to identify the deputies who were punished but said all 13 named in an internal investigation of security lapses were disciplined in some manner. The officers who were fired include two majors, a captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant, two deputies and a detention officer, the sheriff said, without naming them.
“People say I’ve taken too long, but the employees are due due process,” the sheriff said.
It’s especially noteworthy that most of those fired were in leadership positions, which is as it should be. That the guards were so grossly incompetent as to let an inmate take away their gun, shoot people, and escape the complex uninjured is a direct result of poor training.
