The following information is gleaned from incident reports, which are public record, from the Jones County Sheriff’s Department and Gray Police Department Feb. 24-25, 2025.
Feb. 24
Animals being shot
Dep. Reno was dispatched to the area of E. Virginia Lane in regards to multiple K9 animals being shot in the area and left to die. Upon arrival, Reno made contact with the complainant who explained that he had found his dog shot and killed. The complainant advised Reno that he and his wife were out of town and his children stayed at home and had not seen the family’s dog. The complainant stated that his neighbors had seen his dog along with their dog walking around the neighborhood together.
The dogs in the neighborhood are known to be friendly and none of the residents in the area have reported any issues with the animals. Later, the neighbor called the Sheriff’s office and advised they had found their dog shot and killed. The complainant advised the deputy that when he and his wife returned home, they went out and searched for their dog.
According to the complainant, the next morning he observed buzzards flying around and he went to the location. The complainant found his dog laying on the train tracks behind his neighbor’s residence with a gunshot wound in the dog’s right shoulder. This is when the complainant contacted the Sheriff’s Office. When Reno arrived at the residence, he went to where the dog’s body was, and he observed buzzards picking at the animal. The dog had a gunshot wound to the right shoulder just above the shoulder blade. Reno took pictures of the wound and used a Sharpie pen in the photos as a way to scale and size the caliber of the bullet hole. The deputy also observed a deer stand at the back of the residence where the dog was found. Reno contacted his sergeant, and the sergeant advised the deputy to inform investigations of the incident. Investigations advised Reno that the owner could bury the dog and the deputy could document the case. Reno then provided the complainant with a case card and sent photos of the scene to the Sheriff’s Office as evidence.
Speeding and suspended license
Deputy Shurley was on routine patrol in the area of GA Hwy. 22 East when he observed a vehicle traveling eastbound towards him at what appeared to be a high rate of speed. Shurley activated his in-car radar, and it gave a reading of 75 mph in a 55-mph speed zone. The deputy turned around near the Lake Jonesco Golf Course, activated his blue lights and initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle. Shurley made contact with the male driver and requested his driver’s license. The male driver advised the deputy that he did not have a license and that it was suspended so he provided his name and date of birth. Shurley ran the male driver’s information and verified that he did have a suspended driver’s license. The male advised the deputy that he was heading home from work and lives with his girlfriend.
Shurley allowed the male to call someone to make arrangements to pick up the vehicle. The male then advised the deputy that he has some tickets in Tennessee when he lived there and last he spoke to the courts there, they requested to see him in person, but he has yet to get up there to handle it and once he did that would help him get his license here in Georgia. Once arrangements were made for someone to pick up the vehicle, Shurley placed the male in handcuffs and transported him to the Jones County LEC where he was issued citations for driving while license suspended and speeding. The male was then turned over to jail staff.
Feb. 25
More stolen cleaning products
Dep. Shurley was dispatched to a local business in reference to a theft by shoplifting case. The employees had informed dispatch that a male and female subject left the business with the stolen items and headed back towards Bibb County. Shurley arrived on scene and met with two employees and a manager of the business. The employees informed Shurley that a male and female subject had come into the business and walked out with numerous cleaning products without paying. The employees stated they ran out the door and attempted to confront the two subjects, but they proceeded to put the items in their vehicle and left. Prior to the suspects leaving, an employee was able to take a photo of the vehicle and the tag, however, it was taken while the vehicle was moving so the photo was somewhat blurry and only provided a partial tag number.
Shurley was able to review the security footage and it showed the vehicle pull up to the front of the business where a female exited the vehicle and entered the business with a shopping cart. The footage showed the female walk around the business gathering various items and placing them inside the cart. A short time later, the footage shows the male subject enter the business and meet up with the female. More items were collected and upon watching the footage, it appeared that the male was looking for the location of the employees inside the business. While one of the employees was helping a customer, you can see the two suspects quickly exit the business with the collected merchandise placed inside of a plastic clothes hamper.
The male subject was carrying the hamper while the female subject was shown carrying a bundle of paper towels. The manager of the business informed the deputy that an employee from another location of the business had reported a shoplifting and the people captured on camera from that location matched the description of the two subjects that robbed this business location. The manager played the security footage back and tried to observe everything the female subject had placed in her cart. The footage showed the plastic clothes hamper, two double rolls of paper towels, Lysol spray, toilet paper, dryer sheets, Pine-Sol cleaner, Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner, Dawn dish liquid and Febreze Plug in air freshener. Shurley obtained the photo that the employees took of the vehicle and entered it into the Flock Camera System to see if any vehicle matched the description. To Shurley’s surprise, a vehicle matching that description was captured in Bibb County on multiple cameras. Shurley was able to use that information to run the tag number on the vehicle. The information came back to show the vehicle was registered to a female out of Bibb County. The employees of the business saw a picture of the female and one employee immediately identified the female as one of the suspects. Due to positive identification of the female subject by the employees, as well as her vehicle description and partial match on the vehicle tag, Shurley will seek an arrest warrant for the female for theft by shoplifting.
