Got another one
Would-Be Assailant Thwarted In Georgia
LAVONIA, Ga. (Reuters) - A disgruntled former employee stormed into a Georgia truck parts business with a shotgun and pointed it at a receptionist but was overpowered by a worker using a brand new handgun, police said Tuesday.
The incident occurred Friday, one day after nine people were slain in a massacre at an Atlanta office park. The owner of the parts shop, fearful of a copycat incident, had purchased a handgun that day in hopes of foiling such an attack.
Jeffery Johnson, 36, was arrested Friday after he went to O.E.M. Truck Accessories, the pickup truck parts business from which he had recently been fired, and put a gun to the receptionist's head, Franklin County Sheriff's Department investigator Chad Bennett told Reuters.
Johnson was being held without bail Tuesday in the Franklin County jail on charges including kidnapping, making terroristic threats and aggravated assault, Bennett said.
He said Johnson, who was fired over a missing $900, had apparently bought his gun Friday morning, even though he was a convicted felon.
The owner of the business, Rick Carr, also purchased a handgun Friday because he thought Johnson might return and because he was concerned about the massacre a day earlier at an Atlanta office park.
``You know how copycats happen...,'' Carr told the Tuesday edition of Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ``We made the decision in the morning that we were going to buy a gun at lunch.''
``He called that morning and told them, 'I'm coming,' and they went out and bought a gun,'' Bennett said.
When Johnson entered the business, Carr retrieved his weapon, loaded it and gave it to an employee, Brian Green, who previously had received weapons training.
Green confronted Johnson with the gun, but the weapon jammed and would not fire. Green then grabbed the barrel of Johnson's shotgun, pushed it to the ceiling and wrestled him to the ground, holding him down until police arrived.
Georgia law requires gun owners to submit to an instant background check.
Lavonia is a suburb northeast of Atlanta. |
