DA rules deputies’ fatal shooting of Warner Robins man was ‘justified,’ GBI closes case
The GBI has closed its investigation into the fatal shooting of a Warner Robins man by Houston County Sheriff’s deputies, with no charges pending.
Houston County District Attorney William Kendall told the Telegraph he determined the shooting of 44-year-old James “Brian” Parks was a justified homicide and no Houston County Sheriff’s Office deputies involved will be charged.
The GBI concluded its investigation last week, almost seven months after the shooting.
The night of July 3, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home on Tharpe Road in Warner Robins. The homeowner, Christy Parks, had called 911 requesting help as she was concerned about her son Brian’s mental health.
Christy said she told dispatchers that Brian was in possession of a gun and was “disoriented” but she did not believe he was suicidal.
Brian was inside the home when deputies made multiple failed attempts to contact him from outside the home. Deputies later called the Houston County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team to assist.
When the special response team attempted to contact him, Brian came out on the front porch of the home holding a handgun and was shot and killed after chambering a round and pointing his gun at a deputy, according to police.
There were no mental health professionals at the scene that night.
“It’s very unfortunate circumstances,” Kendall said. “But the reality of the situation is when people have firearms and they’re acting in a tumultuous manner, the mental health professionals aren’t coming out to talk somebody down. They’re not going to go up and make contact with somebody who’s holding the handgun.”
Creating co-response teams
The incident was one of two fatal shootings last year during which the Houston County Sheriff’s Office Special Response team responded to a mental health crisis.
On July 1, a new state law went into effect encouraging — but not mandating — community service boards to establish co-response teams with local law enforcement agencies.
Co-response teams partner behavioral healthcare providers with law enforcement agencies to assist when responding to mental and behavioral health crises.
Middle Flint Behavioral Healthcare, the community service board that serves Houston County, told the Telegraph they currently don’t have enough money to a create a co-response team in the county, but they have applied for seed funding from the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) in recent months with hopes to create one.
Middle Flint Behavioral Healthcare currently offers a crisis response team that’s available to local law enforcement officials, EMS and the public across multiple counties.
The crisis response team, which was established days after the Warner Robins shooting, allows behavioral health professionals to assist over the phone or in-person.
Unlike the current crisis response team, a co-response team would allow a full-time behavioral healthcare provider to assist Houston County law enforcement officials exclusively and would be available 24/7.
The co-response team would also involve extensive training between law enforcement and the healthcare provider and establish a protocol committee to gather data and assess the co-response team’s performance.
