GBI report reveals details of July 11 deputy-involved shooting

GAINESVILLE - A call to Hall County 911 from a resident of Harbour Point Yacht Club on the evening of July 11 set set into motion a chain of events that would leave a suspected murderer dead, shot by two sheriff's deputies.

Through an Open Records request, AccessNorthGa.com has obtained the Georgia Bureau of Investigation report on the shooting that left John Pearce dead.

The caller is a woman who lives near the crime scene and she begins by telling a 911 operator "I need someone at Harbour Point Yacht Club...immediately!"

She quickly adds "there's a man out here he's killed a woman in front of my home , I'm out here, he's crazy!"

The caller then described the dramatic scene unfolding on the street as Pearce is confronted by two sheriff's deputies: "They got guns drawn on him. Oh! They shot him!"

But she said the confrontation didn't end there: "He's getting up and going at them again...they shot him again!"

OFFICERS INTERVIEWED

The deputies were interviewed by GBI agents within hours of the incident and described the confrontation with Pearce.

Deputy Rainey Wood told the agent interviewing him "when he charged at me, he got as close as me and you and dove at my waistline. And, when he dove, I fired."

Wood said he and deputy Charles Greenwell had already ordered Pearce to surrender.

"There was probably a two or three second delay before he put his hands up. Now, we had already 'drawn down' on him."

Deputy Greenwell also shot Pearce.

AUTOPSY

An autopsy report contained in the GBI report shows that Pearce was shot in the neck and the chest and that the body was "covered" in superficial incisions and other visible injuries.

The medical examiner says there were such wounds on the left arm and hand, neck, torso, and right leg - and that Pearce's genitals had been mutilated. There were superficial abrasions and lacerations of the knees and face and contusions and abrasions on the right hand - and the body was covered in blood.

There were reports at the time that Pearce had use a knife or other sharp instrument on himself as well as his victims, his mother, who was killed, and an aunt, who was critically wounded when she was also stabbed.