SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting between the Savannah Police Department and an individual involved in an armed robbery.

According to the Savannah Police Department, around 7 p.m. on Monday officers were called to an armed robbery in progress at the Beauty & Beyond in the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

According to a news release from the GBI, officers approached 31-year-old Kevin Dubois, of Savannah, who was holding a handgun. Officers reportedly gave Dubois verbal commands to drop the gun, but he did not.

The GBI said that Dubois ran, and officers chased him. During the chase, Dubois reportedly pointed his handgun at officers and was then shot by two officers.

Police gave first aid until an ambulance got on scene. Dubois was taken to a Savannah hospital where he died.

A handgun and bundles of money were recovered from the scene.

No officers were injured during the incident.

It’s the city’s policy that in an officer-involved shooting, they don’t investigate their own, they defer to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It’s SPD policy that officers involved in a shooting go on administrative leave until the investigation is complete.

The armed robbery will be investigated by SPD.

This is the 100th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2021 and the second officer-involved shooting involving the Savannah Police Department in less than a week.

The number of officer involved shootings in Savannah has doubled compared to last year from two in 2020 to four this year.

On June 17, a patrol officer was called to Highway 204 and I-95 for a report of a suspicious vehicle, where a suspect pulled a gun on the officer and stole his vehicle. The pursuit ended in Daffin Park in Savannah where the suspect was shot and later charged.

Then, exactly a month later, a man was shot and killed on East Bolton Street. The suspect was the passenger in the car that was pulled over after police say the driver didn’t stop at a stop sign and the passenger did not comply with their commands.

On December 21 a man was shot and killed at a home on Vassar Street. According to the GBI, the suspect was connected to several thefts.

While searching a home, an officer opened a closet door and the suspect came out swinging a knife. Officers opened fire, and the man died. No officers were hurt.

That brings us up to Monday night’s officer-involved shooting.

Witness account

The man WTOC spoke with was with his wife. They had just made a pit stop at a gas station on MLK and were getting ready to leave when they heard sirens.

“We were leaving out of Parker’s, and four police cars come flying down that way,” said James Sarver who witnessed the officer-involved shooting.

James Sarver watched the Savannah Police units head south a couple blocks, and a few seconds later drove in that direction to see what was going on. What he did see, he wasn’t expecting. Officers with guns drawn, firing.

“I could see the gunfire coming out of the guns.”

That’s how close he was. Sarver says it wasn’t until he got home and watched the news that he found out what happened.

“I didn’t want to get any closer. Didn’t want to get no stray bullets or any stuff like that… that’s what my wife was concerned about.”

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