GRIFFIN, Ga. — A man was taken into custody on Friday and has been charged with murder after Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said he shot and killed a sheriff's deputy while responding to a domestic disturbance and welfare check call.
Dix said the two deputies arrived at a residence located along Vineyard Road in Griffin and, as they were crossing the yard, were fired at from a window by a suspect with a shotgun. That suspect was identified as 57-year-old Todd Harper, according to Dix.
Sgt. Marc McIntyre was shot in the head, while the other was forced to take cover and returned fire. Additional responding officers were able to retrieve McIntyre and get him transported for emergency medical care; he later died of the critical injury to his head. The second deputy is being treated for a broken hand at the hospital.
What we know about the suspect
Dix said that deputies had been called to Harper's house multiple times prior to the incident. He said there was an incident that happened in January 2021 where Harper barricaded himself in the house, but no shots were fired. He confirmed that Harper was a military veteran who had struggled with mental health, but his sister, also a former military servicemember, came down and got him some assistance following the incident two years ago. Dix added he thought everything was fine with Harper since that incident.
On Friday, Dix said it was Harper's wife who called 911, reporting there was a domestic incident. He said his wife went to a neighbor's house and said she needed help and that he had threatened her and that she needed to call 911 and get some assistance.
"We thought at that point, everything would be fine, and then here we are, this happened today," Dix said. "The thing that I will say to people...knowing that somebody is off their meds is the same response that I've had to this before. If you're a family member, and you have a loved one who has a deadly-force encounter with a law enforcement officer. If you knew enough to go to the media and say that they were off their meds, you knew enough to get them some help before it got to that point," adding, "If you're going to get on TV and say it, then you should've got him some help before it got to the point TV stations had to show up because something had happened."
According to Dix, Harper barricaded himself inside the house after he allegedly shot the deputy in the head with a shotgun. Units from the Clayton County Sheriff's Office, Pike County Sheriff's Office, Griffin Police Department and other agencies responded.
With the assistance of a Clayton County Sheriff's Office armored vehicle and Spalding County's own, law enforcement ripped the entire back of the house off. Dix said the suspect still wouldn't surrender, which is when they went inside and found him lying underneath a mattress in a bedroom. SWAT team members from three jurisdictions were able to take Harper into custody.
"He was very combative at the time he was arrested. He had to be carried to the car, continually to tell us that he knew where all of us lived and that he was going to kill us all," Dix said, adding, "He killed my deputy, he's going to sit in my jail."
What happens next
Dix said McIntyre was a military veteran who was a supervisor for other deputies and had been with the sheriff's office for roughly 12 years.
Sheriff Dix added he was one who "definitely led by example." He said he believed McIntyre had served in the Army in Iraq.
Dix said he hadn't yet spoken to the other deputy - also a military veteran - who was on scene and survived the shooting, but that he'd been told the other deputy was devastated.
"To see your supervisor get shot steps away from you and seeing him laying on the ground and you can't get to him because you're taking gunfire is a horrible thing for any person or any law enforcement officer to have to see," Dix said.
The sheriff said on Friday afternoon that McIntyre's body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy and that Georgia State Patrol, Clayton County law enforcement and Spalding deputies will be part of the escort.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the shooting.