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Shotgun blasts rip into vehicle
By Billy Hobbs
Morris News Service
Multiple gunshots that rang out at
a business near Wrens on Monday resulted
in a woman driving an injured
man to McDuffie Regional Medical
Center in Thomson and a subsequent
investigation being launched by three
different law enforcement agencies.
Investigator Lt. Robert Chalker of
the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office
identified the man wounded as 28-
year-old Shaun Brassell, of Avera.
Chalker said a pellet, believed to be
fired from a shotgun blast, lodged in
Brassell’s throat.
The injured man was taken by
ambulance to the Medical College of
Georgia Hospital in Augusta following
the shooting that occurred around
noon at KK Auto Salvage, located on
the 5000 block of Georgia Highway
17, a few miles north of Wrens, said
Chalker.
When Brassell is able to talk,
Chalker said, he plans to interview
him again.
A woman, Jessica Stout, of Avera,
reportedly Brassell’s ex-wife, was
taken into custody by Chalker. She
had not been formally charged with
any crime as of Tuesday.
Instead,
she was being held for investigative
purposes at the Jefferson County Jail
in Louisville.
Stout reportedly was attempting
to drive Brassell to
the emergency room of the
hospital in Thomson when
the right front passenger tire
went flat, about a block away
near Ware and Fluker streets
in Thomson.
One of the pellets
fired from shotgun blasts
is believed to have punctured
the tire.
The woman managed
to escape injury.
After walking from there
to the hospital, the woman
reportedly told medical staff
that the man she had brought
in had been shot in Jefferson
County. Subsequently, Deputy
Mike Coke of the McDuffie
County Sherirff’s Department
was dispatched to the hospital.
An initial investigative report
was completed by him.
Agents with the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation’s
Region 7 Office, which also
handles crime investigations
in Jefferson County, later arrived
at the hospital to begin
their inquiry.
The car, meanwhile, a Mitsubishi
Eclipse, later was processed
by GBI Special Agent
Steve Foster, who, along with
Chalker, took several crime
scene photographs.
Chalker said Kenneth
Kitchens, owner of KK Auto
Salvage, fired several shots at
the car and its occupants, using
a shotgun and a .22-caliber
pistol.
The veteran lawman said
Kitchens had been the victim
of at least four thefts in recent
weeks. He reportedly believed
the persons at which he was
shooting were engaged in
stealing various items from
his business.
Chalker said he spoke with
the district attorney about the
case on Monday afternoon and
that no charges would be filed
against Kitchens.
“At this point, it’s still under
investigation by our office and
the Jefferson County Sheriff’s
Office,” said Nicholson.
Pine Valley
manager
shoots
aggressor
• Man with bullet wounds in both
thighs later tased and charged
after emergency room scuffle
By Parish Howard
Editor/Publisher
Apartments last week when he allegedly
“came at” the complex’s
manager after a gang-like fight in
which a 16-year-old was injured and
a 58-year-old woman was struck.
Wrens police officers responded to
a fight in the parking lot a little after
10 p.m. Thursday, June 21.
Police Chief David Hannah said
that witnesses claim a group of
around 10 young men arrived at the
complex on Kings Mill Road and
began physically assaulting another
young man who was visiting a Pine
Valley resident.
Chief Hannah said that one person
attempted to break up the fight and
at some point one older lady was
shoved.
The apartment complex’s manager,
Tomasenia Jackson, said that her 16-
year-old son attempted to break up the
fight and was then attacked.
She said
he suffered a swollen jaw and a broken
finger.
It was the boy’s grandmother,
Jackson’s own mother, she said who
then attempted to break up the fight,
but was struck in the process.
Jackson said that is when she
pulled her 9 mm handgun and fired
two “warning shots” in the air.
“The aggressor then turned and
came at the apartment manager,” said
a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.
Jackson said she was just trying to
break up the fight, protect her family
and the tenants.
“After firing two warning shots I
thought they would just go,” she said.
“Most of them did. But there were
two or three who didn’t and there
was only one who started coming
towards me.
“He had death all over his face and
he kept saying things like, ‘I’m not
afraid of no gun. I’m not afraid of
dying. I’m not afraid of you.’
He put
his hand in his pocket and someone
shouted that he had a gun.”
That is when Jackson fired at the
approaching man.
Chief Hannah said that those
gathered then fled on foot through a
nearby wooded area.
It was later determined that
Thomas Hannah Jr., 23, of Wrens
had been struck with bullets in both
thighs. Investigators said they had not
determined if the wounds were from
two separate bullets or from a single
round that could have passed through
one leg before striking the other.
As of Tuesday, no one had been
charged in the shooting itself, however
Hannah, the shooting victim,
was charged with simple battery
and obstruction of an officer after
an altercation at Jefferson Hospital
where he was being treated for his
bullet wounds.
Chief Hannah said the
young man tried to leave the
emergency room before he
was treated and before the
officers could interview him
about the events that led to
his wounds.
“At one point he shoved one
of my officers hard in the chest
and eventually the officer had
to tase him to bring him under
control,” Chief Hannah said.
According to a spokesman
for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation,
who has control of
the case, Thomas Hannah Jr.
was identified by witnesses as
the aggressor in the Pine Valley
parking lot incident earlier
in the evening.
Pine Valley co-owner Billy
Key said that he is supportive
of Jackson and her actions.
“She was coming to the aid
of a tenant,” Key said Tuesday.
“The guy was coming right at
her, it was self defense.
Tomasenia
sent out a very strong
message that gang activity
will not be tolerated at Pine
Valley Apartments.”
“The apartments' owners
have since sent out a letter to
each of the tenants expressing
their support of Jackson’s actions.
“We’re trying to build a
better community here and it
takes every bit of cooperation
among our tenants,” Jackson
said Tuesday.
“That gang came
in here trying to take on the
territory. They’re trying to put
fear in people and we’re just
not living like that here.”
Chief Hannah said that
since the incident his officers
have increased their patrols
of the area. The GBI said the
entire incident is still under
investigation.
Stars, stripes and flames
Retirement
with
honor...
Members of American Legion Post
229 are shown properly disposing
of old faded and tattered flags
at the Retirement Ceremony
held June 14 at Wrens Memorial
Cemetery.
In compliance with the
U.S. Flag Code, “The Flag when
it is in such condition that it is no
longer a fitting emblem for display,
should be destroyed in a dignified
way…preferably by burning.”
Legionnaires Billy Wren, Glen
Bartell and Emmit Carroll inspect
some 75 unserviceable American,
sate and other flags as Clarence
Holley laces flags in barrel to be
consumed by the flaming fire.
It
was the closing part of the Flag
Day exercise.
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