Officer-Involved Shooting Under Investigation In Gordon County

CALHOUN, GA — A Calhoun man was injured in an officer-involved shooting after he allegedly used his vehicle to crash into two police cars while fleeing a traffic stop, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The GBI was asked by the Georgia State Patrol and Gordon County Sheriff's Office to investigate the shooting, which was reported just after midnight Sunday, Sept. 16. According to the GBI, a sheriff's deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop around 12:09 a.m. on a vehicle driven by Santiago Alberto Franco Marquez, 35, of Calhoun.

However, Marquez did not pull over, and the pursuit — which later involved the state patrol and Calhoun Police Department — continued for about 15 minutes. A state trooper tried to perform a box maneuver when Marquez allegedly hit the trooper's vehicle and "also made impact" with a sheriff's deputy's patrol vehicle at the intersection of Harris Beamer Road and LaVista Drive, the GBI notes.

The trooper got out of the vehicle, but Marquez continued to crash into that vehicle. The GBI notes the trooper fired one shot in the driver's side window of the subject's vehicle. Marquez got out of the vehicle through the passenger's side and fled on foot, but was captured roughly 100 yards from the scene after a Gordon sheriff's deputy used his Taser during the chase.

Marquez suffered a hand injury, and was transported to the Floyd Medical Center for treatment. He was released to the Gordon County Sheriff's Office, and booked into the jail on aggravated assault on an officer, attempting to elude and other traffic-related charges. None of the officers were injured.

The GBI will investigate the incident and once it's done, it will turn over the case file to the Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for review. Sunday's incident is the 64th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate in 2018.

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