PUTNAM COUNTY
Calls to 911 Saturday night regarding gunshots at the Jet 44 gas station and an active shooter at Eatonton Walmart turned out to be false reports, authorities say.
Eatonton Police Department received a call around 9:45 p.m. Dec. 9 regarding gunshots fired at the Jet Food Store on the corner of the Eatonton Bypass and Gray Road, according to Police Chief Howell Cardwell.
As Cardwell, Sgt. Eli James, and Officer Dillon Waldroup were en route to the scene, other calls came in regarding an active shooter at Walmart, he said. The police chief continued to the Jet while James and Waldroup responded to Walmart.
“I want to thank the other officers and sheriff’s department and Lt. Harry Luke who also responded to help us out,” Cardwell noted.
At Jet 44, Cardwell learned there was an altercation between a group of people during which a man hit another one in the face.
Cardwell said the two men were acquaintances “with ongoing issues between them on social media.”
Cardwell said he watched the surveillance camera video footage of the parking lot and interior of the convenience store and saw the altercation but saw no guns or gunfire. He also said there were no shell casings anywhere on the scene.
One of the friends of the man who was punched was seen on the video running away from the scene. That friend ran across the street to Walmart and ran inside the store “hollering about a gun and people chasing him,” Cardwell said.
Everyone who heard him panicked and ran out of Walmart.
“He was panicky, and he scared everybody else, but no gun was ever found,” Cardwell said.
The panicking man told authorities that some people at the Jet had chased him across the street and the parking lot of Walmart and had guns.
“Videos at both places (Jet and Walmart) do not show anyone shooting a gun or anyone chasing him, so right now those allegations are unproven, but the investigation is ongoing,” Cardwell said.
The man who punched the other one at the Jet was later identified as Damyian Demond Foster, 18, of Conyers. Warrants were issued for his arrest and he turned himself in Monday evening. He was booked into Putnam County jail on charges of battery.