Chief William McCollom
Local news reports
Peachtree City police Chief William McCollom spoke calmly in the audio recording, telling a dispatcher he needed medical help for an accidental gunshot wound at his suburban home, about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta.
"Who shot her?" the dispatcher asked.
"Me," McCollom said. "The gun was in the bed, I went to move it, and I put it to a side and it went off."
During the call, McCollom said he and his wife were sleeping when the shooting happened. No one else was in the home. The nearly six-minute conversation between McCollom and the dispatcher sheds little light on how the gun fired. Authorities previously identified it as McCollom's 9-mm Glock handgun — his service weapon.
"This just occurred now, right before you called?" the dispatcher asked.
"Yup, yup, went off in the middle of the night," McCollom said. He told the dispatcher his wife was shot twice, though investigators later determined the wife was shot once.
McCollom said his wife was having difficulty breathing and appeared to be bleeding internally and externally. She was flown to Atlanta Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition Friday, hospital spokeswoman Nicole Gustin said.
McCollom's wife can be heard crying in the background.
"Oh my God," the police chief said. "How the hell did this happen?"
Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard said the 911 recording is just one piece of evidence in a larger case. He listened to the recording and described it as confusing. McCollom has not been charged with any crimes.
"Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard said the 911 recording is just one piece of evidence in a larger case. He listened to the recording and described it as confusing. McCollom has not been charged with any crimes.
ReplyDelete"I think that you have to take it with a grain of salt," said Ballard, who added that investigators are digging deeper. "I don't think the tape answers many of our questions, for obvious reasons."
GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang said McCollom has been cooperative with investigators. Authorities plan to interview his wife when her condition improves. Peachtree City officials placed McCollom on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation."
As can be seen, this one is going to be looked at hard. Especially in light of the marital issues.
Yeah--this is one that merits very close scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteA lengthy investigation should give them enough time to cover for him, lose evidence, fabricate explications, etc. The black guy in Louisiana I posted about this morning when straight to jail.
ReplyDeleteAh, who guards the guards. It sounds like he said a lot on the phone before the police actually arrived. And I imagine once they did arrive, it was treated like a crime scene, restricting access and stuff.
DeleteSo you're saying that cops are racists who practice extreme prejudice in their application of the law. Why then do you advocate giving them more power through may-issue policies, and broad crime definitions (like I-594), which you know will be applied unequally against minorities?
DeleteBecause, even when he admitted that it would open the way for racist cops to abuse minorities he said that the "good" it would do would outweigh the damage.
DeleteOf course, there's hardly a racist policy or type of racial profiling that couldn't be justified by it's supporters that way--Just look at some of the pundits who are extolling NYC's stop and frisk policy saying that yeah, it may target minorities unfairly, but it's at least done a great job of getting guns off the street, and nothing else can work as well as it has.
When the "good" is gun control, even racist means are acceptable to these folks.
Actually, what I think is most cops are good, just like most gun owners - or half anyway.
Delete. . . or half anyway.
DeleteHey, Mikeb--I think I figured out your scientific method for determining that "50% of gun owners are unfit to own guns." Did you take a coin and flip it, with the rule being that heads would mean that 50% are unfit--and tails would mean that the other 50% are?
Did I nail it, Mikeb? I bet I did.
"Margaret McCollom's statement to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation backed the assertion of her husband, Peachtree City Police Chief William McCollom, that the shooting was not intentional.
ReplyDeleteMargaret McCollom told investigators she was asleep when she was shot and was unable to provide information about what had happened, the agency said in a statement."
"William McCollom, who has been on administrative leave since the incident, called 911 on Thursday to report that he had shot his wife around 4 a.m. while moving his service revolver, which he said was in the couple's bed."
http://news.yahoo.com/wife-shot-georgia-police-chief-says-she-believes-003333193.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCM_atU6EgAkorQtDMD
Don't see many police officers carrying revolvers these days. Old school I guess. Most revolvers though have a longer and harder trigger pull than say the more used Glocks, though I've never tried a Glock with the special triggers some departments mandate.
I'll bet you've never tried a Glock in bed with your wife at 4 in the morning either.
Delete" I'll bet you've never tried a Glock in bed with your wife at 4 in the morning either."
DeleteI'm not a big Glock fan since I grew up on 1911 style pistols, and I haven't a wife to deal with. With kids in the house almost constantly, I have to be somewhat anal about firearms.
In my years, I have spent quite a few nights snuggled up to a rifle while sleeping. The trigger pull on a revolver is generally longer and harder (no pun intended) than the standard Glock, so his mind definitely in the game when he laid hands on it.
Actually, SSG, I'd take "service revolver" with a grain of salt. These are "authorized journalists" we're talking about here, remember.
DeleteActually, Rachel Maddow's guest--a sheriff, and former head of the BATFE's Washington D.C. office, said his "service revolver" had a 12-round magazine:
The standard issued magazine that I carried was 12 rounds, and one in the chamber, so as a law enforcement federal agent, the maximum capacity I had with my service revolver was 13 rounds . . .
What's the point about that 13 rounds?
Delete"What's the point about that 13 rounds?"
DeleteMost revolvers in defensive calibers hold either 5 or 6 round. And the norm for Chiefs back in the day was to carry something like a Colt Detective Special which holds 5 rounds.
I myself own a nice 5 shot Ruger revolver. Kurt was demonstrating that many folk don't notice when someone says something unbelievable. To get that number of rounds in a revolver, you're usually looking at a .22.
http://www.cascity.com/us-fire-arms-introduces-12-shot-new-model-1222-revolver/230/
Not to mention that this sheriff, and former BATFE agent of considerable rank, mentioned his "service revolver's" magazine.
DeleteHe clearly meant his "duty pistol," which was clearly semi-automatic, but he was so clueless, just as are a great many journalists, that he failed to realize that a "service revolver" is something else entirely.
Good points. I think he murdered her, or is that jumping too far at this point?
DeleteShe didn't die Mike, in fact, thankfully she seems to be on the mend. I also see that the revolver seems to have turned into a Glock. I wonder where the disconnect on that is happening....
Delete"Still at Atlanta Medical Center (AMC), Maggie McCollom is now listed in “good” condition."
" When the GBI completes the investigation, it will be turned over to Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard.”
McCollom’s condition steadily improved from “critical” on her first day in the hospital to “good” as of Tuesday morning, according to an AMC spokesperson.
Chief McCollom has issued no statement as of Tuesday, and the GBI offered no other details beyond the news release above.
Ballard said the agency may express its view pertaining to whether a crime has been committed, “But usually they just give the facts.”
As in any case, Ballard stressed the need to wait until all the facts are presented before determining if a crime has been committed and if charges will be filed."
"told a 911 dispatcher just after 4 a.m. that his 9mm Glock service handgun was in bed with the couple and accidentally fired when he “went to move it and put it to the side.”
Yes, attempted murder, I should have said.
DeleteIsn't a gun on the nightstand good enough? He has to sleep with his gun? Didn't he know his body takes many different positions while sleeping? Negligence.
ReplyDeleteThat's the part that makes me doubt the whole story.
DeleteGood points. I think he murdered her, or is that jumping too far at this point?
ReplyDeleteWhat--just because she's not dead yet (last I heard, the hospital had upgraded her condition to fair). Nah--pretty much par for the course, for you, Mikeb.
That was just a another hasty mistake, Kurt. The main reason I think he tried to kill her is that he had a gun in bed at 4 a.m.
DeleteThat was just a another hasty mistake, Kurt.
DeleteIf you say so. To me, it kinda sounds like the logical culmination of your "it's fun to rush to judgement" philosophy. For all I knew, perhaps you believed that requiring someone to die before someone else is charged with murder is a relic of reactionary thinking.
The main reason I think he tried to kill her is that he had a gun in bed at 4 a.m.
I actually agree with you (and it freaks me out to say that) that this smells fishy as hell. As long as Margaret McCollom sticks to her position that she believes the shooting was unintentional, though, it seems unlikely that enough evidence will be found to charge him with attempted murder, let alone indict and convict him.