Police shoot pastor dead - he had just dropped off a woman known to be involved in drugs

[The Straight Story]

Police shoot pastor dead

TOCCOA, Ga., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Georgia agents are investigating the death of a minister shot at a convenience store by police working undercover in a drug sting.

Jonathan Ayers, 29, pastor of the Shoal Creek Baptist Church, was shot Wednesday in the store parking lot in Toccoa, 90 miles northeast of Atlanta, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He died at a hospital a short time later after undergoing surgery.

Ayers tried to drive away when two men with guns got out of a Cadillac Escalade. The men were plainclothes officers and they shot Ayers as he sped away, the newspaper said.

Matt Carpenter, Ayers' brother-in-law, said the minister asked paramedics if they knew who had shot him -- suggesting he did not realize the men were police officers. Carpenter said Ayers might not have heard the officers because the windows of his car were rolled up.

The shooting is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. John Bankhead, a spokesman for the agency, said the officers were working for a tri-county drug task force and followed Ayers because he had just dropped off a woman known to be involved in drugs. Both officers are on administrative leave.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/09/04/Police-shoot-pastor-dead/UPI-44481252041767/

[jobycom]

1. I love the way they say "They didn't know the guy," as though that's some type of defense.

God almighty. These days "Shoot first and ask questions later" would be an improvement.

[arcadian]

2. They'll walk

no questions asked. fucking pigs. swine

[Leftist Agitator]

8. Don't insult the most delicious animal on the planet by comparing it to these shitsucking scumbags.

[vadawg]

3. just on the surface, it looks like he tried to drive away and the cops shot him

now whether he swerved towards them or tried to run them down i dont know, but thats the way i see this scenario from what was written..

[Mariana]

4. "...they shot Ayers as he sped away."

IF that's true, it's not self-defense.

Of course, if Ayers did try to run them down, and he did so after they'd drawn their weapons and were going after him, then that WAS self defense on Ayers's part.

We'll see what the investigation finds out, I guess.



Edited for clarity.

[zbdent]

11. so a couple of guys jump out of an unmarked car and start shooting at you ...

what the F*CK do you think you'd do??? Stick around and ask "Hey, are you undercover cops, or are you just criminals???"

[The Straight Story]

18. And even if they were yelling 'police, stop' and were in plain clothes, I probably would not believe

them to be cops. On my side of town unless they are in uniform with their car nearby you don't take someone's word for it that they are cops. They could have simply ran his plates and had someone go to his house later and question him.

[anigbrowl]

15. "The men were plainclothes officers"

I don't know about you, but if two guys with guns drawn get out of a car and aren't in a police uniform (or even if they are), I'm inclined to consider them unfriendly.

[slay]

5. Can we end this HORRIBLE drug war yet? It costs billions and is un-winnable and destroys families

Some people will always like drugs and that's just a fact. Making drugs illegal doesn't stop them, it just empowers gangs, funds CIA black OPs, etc. END THE DRUG WAR! Addicts need to be helped like any other sick person, not put in prison. The death of this preacher is not worth allowing the tobacco and alcohol industries to keep a monopoly on the legal drug industry.

[dreamnightwind]

6. police state

The drug war also feeds an insatiable police state, one that seems to have grown much bolder in recent years when it comes to using force.

Hell, people now get tasered for copping an attitude, or for the cop saying you copped an attitude, or for the cop who's copping a feel saying you copped an attitude...

Let's say this guy WAS involved in drugs. What possible justification was there to shoot him? What has happened to our country?

[Fumesucker]

7. Seventy years of government propaganda demonizing "drugs"..

The great majority of Americans have absorbed the propaganda into the very core of their being, practically everyone uses the phrase "alcohol and drugs" when any thinking person knows that alcohol is indeed a drug.

[dreamnightwind]

9. don't get me started

and stay off the fumes! Drug wars, wars of ideas, global war on terra (the very phrase is redundant), wars to prevent wars, and if you're feeling a little war-weary, put up your heels, relax, and have a drink or two. Then join us in the war on drugs, it's a scourge that is destroying the very fiber of this nation. Arrest a hippie. Shoot a minister. Another round of drinks for my friend the drug warrior!

It took me awhile, but I finally realized your tag-line is ironic.

[Fumesucker]

10. Ironic that you would not see it immediately..

:)

"It took me awhile, but I finally realized your tag-line is ironic."

I'm a big fan of irony..

As you might be able to tell.

"Alcohol and drugs" is so loaded with irony that it clanks every time someone drops that phrase.

[The Straight Story]

12. Drug wars = money and power for some people, gonna be hard to take that away from them

Lives apparently don't matter as much as dollar signs.

[Echo In Light]

13. No different than HC "reform."

[slay]

14. Sad but true my friend

sad but true.. so many harmed in the name of $$$$

[redqueen]

16. Yep... that kind of change will happen very slowly...

and only with a huge push from the people.

[redqueen]

17. Such a tragedy...

I wonder if the cops who murdered him will be punished at all.

[The Straight Story]

19. If he had been a wealthy white pastor that was famous they would be toast

Probably get leave with pay and put on desk duty.

[dgibby]

20. CNN reported yesterday that no drugs were found in his car. n/t