At the request of the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Bartow County. 60-year-old Chris Cochran of Adairsville was shot and killed in the incident. No officers were injured.
On Sunday, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a home on Wesley Mill Drive after Cochran made death threats against his wife and a crisis intervention team that had responded to assist. Cochran’s wife and the intervention team had taken shelter in a neighbor’s house across the street. Bartow County deputies responded to the neighbor’s house to help protect them. Cochran was known to have a large number of rifles in his house. Cochran ran back inside his home, across the street from his wife. Cochran began to break windows of his home, threatening to kill them.
SWAT went to remove the deputies, wife, and witnesses and to take Cochran into custody. Cochran pointed a long gun out of a second-story window and repeatedly threatened SWAT, the deputies, and the witnesses outside. A SWAT officer shot Cochran.
Cochran was pronounced dead at the scene by the Bartow County Coroner’s Office. His body will go to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, where they will perform an autopsy.
The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Once it is complete, they will give the file to the Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.