CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The family of a man shot and killed by Clayton County Police are pleading for answers.
Twenty-four hours before his funeral, the Calhoun family said they're not any closer to finding out why police killed the husband and father on their property. They are pleading with the police for transparency.
“He was a homeowner protecting his family, protecting our house, and y’all took him away from us, and I want them to know they took a good man from this world,” Chelsea Calhoun, daughter of Charles Calhoun, said, full of tears and filled with pain.
Charles Calhoun was shot and killed after Clayton County Police responded to an overnight call about a man walking around with a gun on March 23.
“I want to know why they had to shoot him,” his wife, Sheryl Calhoun, said, who was not home during the incident.
She said he called her, stating he thought someone was trying to break into their home again, and he was checking their property. Neighbors reported seeing a man with a gun and called the police.
“His house had been previously burglarized and we have a photograph where this back window had been broken out and an attempt was made to come into his home when he was in the house,” Family attorney Mawali Davis said.
Instead of police responding with lights and sirens, Davis said, the swat team approached Charles Calhoun from his backyard. Sheryl Calhoun said her husband is not the type of man who would not listen to an officers’ commands.
“If they had made it known who they were or he saw that it was a police officer and had not came at him from behind he would have (dropped the weapon),” she said.
The family believes Calhoun fell and tried to get back up as the swat team approached him.
“My husband having survived covid had problems with his lungs and legs and could hardly walk,” Sheryl Calhoun said.
Davis added, “We’d like for body cam footage be released so that we can see and be clear about what happened that night.”
His daughter Chelsea Calhoun said it’s hard to explain his death to her six-year-old son Hunter.
“He looked after me he was my son’s best friend and I don’t how I’m going to help him heal with this," Chelsea Calhoun said. "They took my son's best friend. They took my daddy away from me.”
The family’s attorney said police should have known this was the same home they responded to after a robbery attempt just a few weeks prior.
Funeral services for Charles Calhoun will be held on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 12 p.m. at Central Holiness Church located at 1069 Washington St SW, Atlanta, GA 30315.