Warner Robins woman still without answers months after son was shot by sheriff’s deputies
On July 3, Christy Parks called 911. She was worried about her son, Brian, a 44-year-old man she said had been drinking for days. She’d seen him with his father’s gun and wanted deputies to check on him.
Christy told the Houston County Sheriff’s deputies who responded that she was not worried that Brian was going to harm anyone, including himself. She just wanted someone “to talk to him and help him.”
What happened next is still under investigation.
Christy and Thomas Parks, a contractor, moved into their Warner Robins home in August 2021. They planned to gradually renovate the house and turn it into their “retirement forever home.”
But Thomas died in April, an unexpected death related to an aneurysm. Christy’s son Brian, whose legal name was James, moved to Warner Robins from Maui to help with the renovations.
Christy described her son as “a very tender, sweet person with a good sense of humor.”
“He was always so happy-go-lucky for the most part, until he would start drinking,” she said. “He really was a loving person and he was very protective of me. He enjoyed the outdoors, he loved to play golf … and diving and swimming, he was like a little fish out of water. He was just very personable and had a quirky little humor. A very nonviolent person.”
Christy said Brian was never diagnosed with a mental disorder, but that his family noticed some concerning behavior over the past several years. He would misremember things from childhood and was incoherent when drinking heavily, talking about strange “metaphysical stuff.”
“The last couple of weeks before he died, he was easily agitated,” Christy said. “I never felt threatened by him. I was just afraid for him, because I didn’t really recognize him when he went into this dark place.”
July 3 shooting
Brian was awakened by fireworks the evening of July 3 out of a “deep sleep.” Christy said he’d been drinking for a few days.
“It triggered him and he came out with my husband’s handgun,” Christy said. “I didn’t know he had even gotten it. But he came out like he needed to defend something.”
She told him to put the gun away and he went back to sleep. Christy then called 911 and told the dispatcher she wanted somebody “to talk to him and help him.” She said she was not in danger and Brian had not threatened her or talked about suicide.
Christy met with deputies from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office outside the home. They made a few attempts to call Brian’s phone and ask him to come outside, but he did not answer. Christy wanted to go inside and wake Brian up, but she wasn’t allowed back in the house.
She said the sergeant on the scene reassured her that he understood no one was in imminent danger, but they were calling the Houston County Special Response Team team leader out “because he has a larger shield and he’s trained.”
Christy said the SRT team leader, in “full riot gear,” ordered officers into positions around the house. They banged on the window and ordered Brian to the front door.
Christy didn’t see what happened next; she was hiding behind a bush. According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Brian “chambered a round” as he turned toward deputies, who opened fire.
“I just heard the front door open and Brian say ‘What’s going on?’” she said. “Because he didn’t know, he was blindsided. Then I heard somebody say ‘He’s got a gun.’ I don’t know what transpired after that. It was like milliseconds went by and all of a sudden shots were coming from every direction… it was like a hell zone. It was ridiculous.”
Christy said family members counted 29 bullet holes across the front of her house and 10 in a neighbor’s house. Brian was taken to the Houston Medical Center and received an emergency operation before he was pronounced dead.
Still under investigation
The GBI is investigating the shooting, which will be turned over to the Houston County DA’s office once it’s completed. In a release, the GBI noted that the sheriff’s office was asked to perform a welfare check on a suicidal man who was “barricaded” inside his home.
The Telegraph requested body camera footage from the shooting, but the GBI denied the request. Georgia open records laws do not require law enforcement agencies to turn over body camera footage until after an investigation is complete, although agencies are not prevented from providing the footage, either.
The Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the GBI declined to comment on the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.
Christy said the sheriff’s office hasn’t offered support or counseling resources and has not offered to pay for the damage done to her home or the almost $3,000 bill from Brian’s emergency surgery.
She’s also still waiting on a death certificate from Brian’s autopsy, which was completed in July.
