Officer Sherry Hall has been charged after authorities in Georgia discovered that she lied about being shot by a black man. With the current unrest and rising tension between police and the black community, many people are scratching their heads after reading the tale that Officer Hall fed her colleagues.
Others are upset with the officer because she had many people living in the Jackson neighborhood worried that a dangerous black criminal, who shot an officer, was on the loose.
This whole masquerade began on September 13 when Hall made a police radio call and revealed that she was shot in the chest. Hall, a member of the Jackson Police Department, said that while on a routine patrol in the area, a black male approached her and asked her why was she there.
The man insulted her and shot at her. She responded by firing twice at the suspect with the Glock .22, but he got away by fleeing into the woods. Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that Hall claimed that her bulletproof vest protected her.
According to the GBI, Hall stated that she forgot to turn on her police car’s video or audio recording devices and therefore there was no record of the shooting.
She also told the authorities that she was carrying only one weapon the day of shooting. The community rallied around Hall as police searched for the shooter. Hall’s daughter appeared on the local news pleading with the suspect to turn himself in.
Officials at a Friday afternoon press conference in Jackson said investigators located a video and audio from the unit’s hard drive, which proved that Hall had fabricated the entire story.
No one shot her, she never argued with a black suspect, and she had a second gun. They declined to comment on whether Hall shot herself.
It was revealed that Hall checked herself into a private facility, but she will be arrested and booked on the charges upon her release. Butts County Sheriff Gary Long called the situation a horrific event and added:
“This is not a mistake. This is a criminal. She’ll have a lot of time to think about what she’s done.”
Towaliga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Richard Milam said investigators are still reviewing the case, and the community can now rest easy. Milam explained:
“There is no person out there with a gun shooting at our police officers. There is no person out there that needs to be found.”
Jackson Mayor Kay Pippin said she was “disappointed anyone would contribute to such fears.” Pippin stated:
“For two weeks, the good people of the city of Jackson poured out their hearts in expressions of concern and support for what we believed to be a police officer – one of our own – harmed in the line of duty.”
In the 1990s before becoming a police officer, Hall spent five years on probation and paid a $1,700 fine after being arrested on felony criminal destruction of property charges.
