GBI investigating officer-involved shooting at Glennville pawn shop

GLENNVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - One man is dead and a probation officer is injured after a shooting at the EZ Pawn shop in Glennville around 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

In a Friday afternoon update, the GBI identified the deceased person as 39-year-old Riley Eugene Peay from Glennville.

The GBI says their preliminary assessment is the probation officer was inside when Peay burst in and attacked the officer by punching and spitting on him. The officer backed away and drew his gun, ordering Peay to stop, but he did not. The officer fired and hit Peay in the shoulder, but Peay still did not stop. The officer fired again and Peay fell down, dying at the scene.

“It hit him in the shoulder, in the collar bone area," said Special Agent, John Durden, GBI. “It slowed him down and turned him around, but he kept on coming. The second round of shots - we believe there were four shots fired - those were the ones that hit the vital organs and stopped him.”

Police, sheriff’s deputies, and GBI blanketed the parking lot along Highway 301 in front of the store on Thursday evening.

“The probation officer was not serving a warrant, not executing a warrant or going after this person. He was confronted by this person and attacked," Durden said.

WTOC obtained records Friday afternoon that suggest Peay broke the law when he came back onto the pawn shop’s property. A 2016 Glennville police report says he bought a gun at EZ Pawn, then returned days later complaining that it didn’t work. Store managers back then called the police and filed a complaint. The report says the manager says he became irate and filed a trespass warning for him never to return. His coming to the store Thursday broke that. Investigators say he went inside and started a confrontation with the store staff.

“There was no indication that the person even knew the probation officer was in the store,” Durden said.

The officer suffered some injuries but is expected to recover.

Store personnel did not want to comment on what happened or whether Peay had ever violated the trespass warning before.

We spoke with Atlantic Circuit District Attorney, Tom Durden, who says the case remains under investigation, but they hope to have a decision soon about how they’ll proceed with the case.

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