Postal worker shot to death on delivery route, Georgia cops say. A shootout followed
A shootout erupted Saturday in Georgia between deputies and a person of interest in the killing of a postal worker.
The postal worker, 59-year-old Asa “Junior” Wood, was working his morning delivery route on Saturday when he was shot, according to the Banks County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies got a call about the “intentional shooting” at about 9:38 a.m. and arrived to the scene to find Wood “deceased from a gunshot wound.”
Investigators soon identified a person of interest in the case and provided a description of the person’s vehicle.
Deputies on patrol later that day near Highway 51 North and Bennett Road came across the car and tried to pull the driver over, the sheriff’s office says. But the driver fled and led deputies on a chase.
“During the pursuit, a Banks County Sheriff’s Office deputy performed a PIT maneuver, disabling the violator vehicle,” the sheriff’s office says.
As the car came to a stop, the driver immediately got out and started shooting at deputies, the sheriff’s office says.
Deputies returned fire and hit the driver, according to the sheriff’s office. The person was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting as part of “standard procedure,” the sheriff’s office says, and the deputies involved will be put on administrative leave “pending the investigation.”
“The Banks County Sheriff’s Office is working in tandem with the US Postal Inspectors, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Banks County Coroner’s Office,” the sheriff’s office said.
No other information about the case had been released as of Sunday morning.
“The subject’s name involved in the officer involved shooting is being withheld pending the GBI’s investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.
Banks County is in northeastern Georgia, about 78 miles from Atlanta.
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Postal worker shot to death on delivery route, Georgia cops say. A shootout followed."
