Good Guy with a Gun #280: Crisp County, GA

Nothing says bad decision-making like committing a second obvious crime to cover for the first one. | Original incident: August 7, 2024

These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is essentially the same as the calendar version.

He was working on a construction crew on Highway 280 a little after 10 that Wednesday. A gray Dodge Charger rolled up behind one of their trucks and stopped, boxing it in. One of his coworkers was still up in the cab. The driver of the Charger got out, already yelling: “I’ll kill you! I’m going to take this truck. I’m going to kill you if I have to take this truck.”

He watched the man grab a piece of rebar and go after his coworker with it, then climb up into the cab after him and get him by the throat. That was enough.

He drew his own gun, raised it, and gave the driver one more chance. “Please stop this,” he told him. “If you don’t, I’m going to shoot you. Please stop.”

The driver didn’t stop.

One shot to the stomach ended it.

Deputies identified the assailant as Calvin Williams Jr., 40, of Albany. Hours earlier and a county over, he’d hit another car in Sumter County and driven off. Sheriff Billy Hancock’s working theory was that Williams stopped on 280 trying to trade that car for a different one, and picked about the worst two men on the road to try it with.

Anthony Walker, who works near where it happened, wasn’t especially surprised when he heard. “I hear about this stuff every day,” he said. He didn’t think much of Williams, either: “They had every right to do what they did. Somebody was trying to steal their things.”

Williams was flown out by helicopter, stable and talking to deputies by the time he got there. They found a bag of marijuana and one of cocaine in the car he’d been driving, and he’s since been charged with three counts of first-degree hijacking a motor vehicle, two of aggravated assault, two of simple battery, attempted armed robbery, entering an automobile, and both drug counts.

The worker who shot him, Hancock said, won’t be facing any of his own.

Sources

Primary

Carjacking Attempt Leads to One Shot (Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, Facebook)

Local News

WALB ran two pieces, the initial report and a follow-up discussing why Williams “needed” the truck.

• Suspect injured in shooting after attempted carjacking, Crisp Co. Sheriff’s Office investigating

• Man shot by worker in Crisp County after attempting to steal construction truck, officials say

13WMAZ also ran two pieces; the later one added an interview with a neighbor.

• Man shot in Crisp County while attempting to steal a car, sheriff’s office says

• Crisp County Sheriff responds to attempted carjacking, shooting on Highway 280 West. (This one’s embedded video has Sheriff Hancock saying the shot “struck the victim and the suspect” — likely a misstatement on his part, since no source anywhere else indicates the assaulted worker was also hit.)

Man shot after assaulting construction workers with rebar during carjacking attempt (WGXA)