Officer Antwan Toney was killed while responding to an anonymous 911 call about a suspicious vehicle parked near a middle school.
Gwinnett County Officer Antwan Toney was killed Saturday when responding to an anonymous 911 call. Police have arrested 19-year-old Isaiah Pretlow and charged him with aggravated assault, but 18-year-old Tafahree Maynard remains at large. Police conducted a search of the area where Maynard was last seen Saturday evening but had no luck. Police will charge Toney with aggravated assault and felony murder once he is apprehended.
911 received an anonymous call Saturday afternoon about a suspicious vehicle parked near Shiloh Middle School according to CNN. As 30-year-old Officer Antwan Toney approached the four-door black sedan, Maynard fired a weapon while seated inside the car. Another officer shot back at the vehicle and dragged Toney’s body from the scene. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. After the exchange of gunfire, the sedan fled the scene without an officer in hot pursuit and crashed about a mile away. The car passengers exited the vehicle and fled the scene. Officials believe Pretlow was driving the vehicle.
While running from the sedan, Pretlow pointed his gun at a police officer who shot but did not injure him. It’s this incident that resulted in Pretlow’s aggravated assault charge. He was not apprehended at this time but ran into a nearby wooded area. Hours later, US Marshalls found him and took him into custody. Despite a Saturday evening canvas of the area on foot and by helicopter that employed K9 teams and SWAT teams, neither Maynard nor any other passengers in the car were located.
Details about where he was shot or the nature of his wounds were not released. As many as four other passengers were inside the car. Police have not released details on whether any of them were injured by the other officer’s gunfire.
Officer Toney was a security guard before becoming part of the Gwinnett County police force almost three years ago. Colleagues described him as “a very jovial person who was dedicated to his job and dedicated to his community” according to Chief of Police Butch Ayers. His death is the first to happen in the Gwinnett County Police Department in the line of duty since May 1993 when an officer was killed during a traffic accident. Prior to that, it had been nearly 30 years since the department had an officer die in the line of duty. In 1964, three officers were shot dead.
Toney’s death was the second fatal shooting of a law enforcement officer in the last week with the first being North Carolina State Trooper Kevin K. Conner being killed during a traffic stop near the South Carolina border Wednesday. A suspect has been arrested for that incident.
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