Senoia Police officers involved in a March 3 incident where two people were shot at a Stallings Road residence have been cleared of any wrongdoing, with Assistant District Attorney Raymond Mayer saying May 22 that the injuries were not the result of excessive force and that the officers actions were lawful.

The March 3 incident began with an attempt to perform the traffic stop of an elderly woman between 9:00-9:30 a.m. using lights and sirens, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) spokesperson John Bankhead. Interviewed after the incident, Senoia Police Lt. Steve Tomlin said the vehicle did not stop or accelerate, and drove from Couch Street to Stallings Road and into a driveway in the 500 block of Stallings where it continued down the driveway approximately 100 yards to the house.

Tomlin said the officer exited his vehicle and began telling the woman why he had attempted to stop her. Approximately four people exited the home as two other Senoia officers arrived, responding to a request for back-up by the officer, said Tomlin. The officers encountered verbal, physical and armed threats from all four individuals, one or more of whom had weapons, Tomlin said. Bankhead said one of the men exiting the home was carrying a shotgun. There were several attempts to persuade the people to drop their weapons prior to shots being fired, he said. The incident escalated and two of the individuals were shot, said Tomlin. The two men were subsequently treated at Atlanta-area hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.

GBI Special Agent Deanna Jury was charged with the investigation of the incident. Jury’s results were forwarded to Mayer who responded to her in a May 22 letter.

“It appears that the officer attempted a traffic stop of Lawsie Campbell, but she failed and refused to stop,” Mayer said in the May 22 letter. “Instead, she led the officer to family property located at the subject address where the officer and back-up officers were confronted by hostile, belligerent and obstructive family members. Due to Lawsie Campbell’s actions, the officers were lawfully on the property. During the heated confrontation, Charles Campbell came to the door of the residence with a shotgun. There was no legal justification for the same. Faced with that threat of deadly force, the officers fired, striking both Charles Campbell and a bystander (although involved to some extent in the confrontation), Napoleon Keith. My conclusions are that the officers’ actions were justifiable and lawful; and that the injuries suffered by Mr. Campbell and Mr. Keith were not the result of excessive use of force or any other unlawful conduct on the part of the officers. Therefore we are closing our file.”