Newly obtained surveillance footage and investigative records raised fresh questions about an April 2025 shooting in downtown Atlanta that left a Fulton County sheriff’s deputy wounded but resulted in no criminal charges against the man who admitted firing the shots.
The findings, uncovered by Atlanta News First through an investigation published on July 9, 2026, present a sequence of events that differs from the public narrative released in the aftermath of the incident.
Deputy Pursued Man Before Gunfire Broke Out
According to the Atlanta News First investigation, the shooting happened on April 24, 2025, near Forsyth Street and Trinity Avenue after Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy Evens Lafond responded to a report involving an unhoused man accused of making threats.
Lafond was working a plainclothes assignment in an unmarked Honda equipped with concealed emergency lights. Surveillance video shows him driving onto a curb before getting out of the vehicle wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He then drew his handgun and chased the man…