GRAND JURY TO DECIDE CHARGES IN POLICE SHOOTING OF A TOCCOA MINISTER

Grand Jury To Decide Charges In Police Shooting Of A Toccoa
Minister

A north Georgia prosecutor said Tuesday he would let a grand jury
decide if there will be criminal charges brought against undercover
drug officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Baptist minister
outside a Toccoa convenience store last summer.

Brian Rickman -- district attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit,
which includes Stephens, Rabun and Habersham counties -- said in an
interview with AJC.com that he also offered to remove himself from the
case and he invited a former DA and a sitting prosecutor to review the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation's findings and to sit in on all
judicial proceedings.

"The more eyes, the better," Rickman told AJC.com.

"I want to make sure it's as transparent" and as "fair" as possible,
Rickman said.

Around 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, Ayers dropped off a woman on a Toccoa
street and then drove to a nearby Shell station to use the ATM inside
the convenience store.

Ayers, who was a pastor at Shoal Creek Baptist Church, was not the
target of a drug investigation but three members of a northeast
Georgia tri-county drug task force wanted to talk to him all the same.
They did not recognize the 29-year-old minister, but the woman who was
in his car moments earlier had twice bought drugs from task force members.

But when the agents pulled up, blocking Ayers' car, the seemingly
frightened minister tried to drive away.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said at the time that Ayers
backed his car into one agent and then a second one fired on Ayers
because the minister maneuvered his car toward the officer in a
"threatening manner."

Witnesses they didn't know the officers were law enforcement until
they shouted that they were police.

Ayers crashed into a utility pole down the street, and he died later
that day after surgery.

Rickman said he got the GBI report about three weeks ago and the
agency's findings would not be made public as long as the case was
pending.

Rickman said he expected to have the grand jury's decision by the end
of this month.