About a month ago, I wrote an article about Jonathan Ayers, a Georgia Baptist Pastor who was killed by a plain-clothes undercover narcotics officer during a botched raid. As I mentioned in that article, Ayers was not the target of the investigation, but was shot by one of the narcotics officers as he attempted to drive away. According to the county sheriff, Ayers was shot because he struck one of the officers with his car and proceeded to drive toward the remaining officers “in a threatening manner.”

Video footage of the incident can be found here:



Radley Balko has an update on this story over at The Agitator. The Associated Baptist Press also has an update on this story.

The actual target of the undercover investigation was a 26 year old woman who was later arrested on two charges of selling cocaine. Both the woman and Ayers’ family state that the pastor had been ministering to the woman for years, trying to get her to “straighten out her life,” and had given her a ride to her home about twenty minutes before Ayers was shot by the narcotics officer in front of a Shell station.

Georgia authorities are still investigating the shooting and say that the investigation would likely be concluded in another four weeks. Once the investigation is completed, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations will turn over the results to either the District Attorney’s office or an outsider prosecutor, who would then have the option of presenting the matter before a grand jury.

Meanwhile, friends and family members held a vigil on October 3rd to remember the slain pastor. After the vigil, about fifty people took part in a march around the block surrounding the Stephens County Courthouse calling for justice. According to Ayers’ mother, no one in law enforcement has contacted her to apologize or offer any explanation about his death.