An armed suspect and Athens-Clarke County police engaged in gunfire early on Sunday morning, causing havoc outside a QuikTrip gas station on Lexington Road in Athens.
FOX 5 was able to collect cell phone footage of the tense scenario following the shooting of 26-year-old Marquavious Sims by the police. Sims was seen lying on the ground, close to a dozen witnesses.
One witness said that “things don’t happen like that too often here in Athens.”
A caller claimed to have seen Sims brandishing a “machine gun” outside the Verizon store across the street, according to GBI officers.
Sims sprinted to the QuikTrip as soon as the police showed up. Before they claimed Sims fired at them, the officers pursued him and told him to lay down the gun. They retaliated, striking him several times.
Officers are seen in the footage attempting to help Sims, who passed away in the hospital.
One man said that he owns a store nearby, but he did not want to be identified. He claims that when he heard the disturbance outside, he was about to close.
“Suddenly, I heard a lot of gunshots; they sounded like fireworks on July 4th. He claimed, “I went around there and saw a black man lying on the ground covered in blood.” “I’ll be sending the family my prayers. We live in a weird world these days.”
A regular customer of the gas station expressed her shock upon discovering what had transpired.
The GBI’s crime lab has received Sims’s body for an autopsy. The two cops who shot him are on administrative leave while the GBI’s investigation is ongoing, according to a department official.
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