The 19-year-old Vidalia man charged with shooting Statesboro Advanced Patrol Officer Joey Deloach was indicted by the Bulloch County Grand Jury Tuesday for four offenses all related to the April 16 incident.
Anthony Kent is charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, two counts of entering, theft by receiving stolen property/felony and obstruction of an officer/felony. He remains in the Bulloch County Jail.
During the incident, Deloach suffered a life-threatening wound to his left leg that struck the femoral artery and had to be flown to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah for treatment.
After multiple surgeries, Deloach was released nine days after the incident to continue his recovery and rehabilitation for the serious wound to his leg at home in Statesboro.
About Deloach, Statesboro Police Chief Mike Broadhead said Thursday: “Joey is doing great. He had a procedure (Wednesday) to remove some drains placed in his leg”
The Statesboro City Council will recognize Deloach at its 5:30 p.m. meeting on May 21.
Broadhead said Deloach is undergoing rehab three days a week and, in the near future, they will discuss his return to light duty at the department.
“We are going to leave it up to Joey and his family to tell us when he is ready to come back,” Broadhead said.
Shooting at Copper Beech Townhomes
At 10 p.m. the night of April 16, Statesboro Police received a call that an unknown person was in the parking lot of Copper Beach Townhomes on Statesboro Place Circle checking cars.
“We got a call saying there was a guy prowling cars,” Broadhead said. “That's been a plague for us over the last three years or so where people, typically juveniles, have been going into these big parking lots and just checking every door handle.”
Broadhead said they believed the call was accurate and there was somebody in the parking lot. Also, two nights earlier a homeowner at Cottage Row (located off Fair Road, near Wild Wing Café) confronted someone trying to break into his car and they exchanged gunfire.
“I'm sure that was on the minds of the officers that went to Copper Beach that this might be the same guy, so let's be cautious,” he said.
Broadhead said eight officers initially responded to the scene. He said they set up a perimeter and started walking in to cover the whole lot.
Shortly afterward, Deloach came upon a man in a vehicle.
“He ordered him to come out and show his hands,” Broadhead said. “That's when the guy's upper body came out of the car. The gun was in his hand. He turned right at the officer and started shooting.”
Deloach returned fire and the suspect fled.
Broadhead said Deloach knew that from the amount of blood he saw, he probably had an arterial bleed.
“Joey actually started to put on the tourniquet he had himself,” Broadhead said. “We require all our patrol officers to carry a torniquet on their belt all the time. We've had training on torniquets and emergency medicine. In fact, we conduct drills where officers have to apply a torniquet to themselves just in case they are alone.”
The gunshot wound, however, prevented Deloach from fully applying his tourniquet, but fellow officers quickly came to his aid.
“The guy who actually applied the torniquet is on the SWAT team and, the week before, they had a class from paramedics on emergency medicine,” Broadhead said.
The training, Broadhead said, all personnel go through on a regular basis all came to bear that night in helping a wounded colleague.
“I'm quite amazed, honestly, that even though our police department is young, the level of professional maturity that these guys have shown throughout this whole incident, has been great,” he said.
“How they handled themselves at the scene. They didn't have any hesitation. Nobody stuttered. Nobody said, 'well, what do we do next?' They just took care of business.
“You watch the video of them responding to Joey being down. The officer gets right on and starts putting a tourniquet on. Another officer immediately stands over them with his gun pointed off in the darkness to make sure that they're safe in case the guy came back. At that point, they didn't know where he'd gone.
“They decided they didn't have time to wait for paramedics. So, they got him in a car and went to the ER. And all without hesitation.”
Investigation
On the night of the shooting, the SPD requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation look into the incident. A statement from the GBI read: "The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Once complete, the case file will be given to the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review."
Broadhead said he has not heard from the GBI. Investigations usually take a number of weeks.
Anyone with information on this case is requested to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Region 5 Investigative Office at (912) 871-1121. Also, information may be provided to Senior Detective Ben Purvis at (912) 764-9911 or by submitting an anonymous tip to www.tipsoft.com.