Fulton County deputy faces murder charge in shooting

<p>A sheriff's deputy is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a man while the deputy was visiting a prostitute, authorities said.</p><p>Fulton County Deputy Richard M. Jackson, 39, is accused of killing the prostitute's boyfriend, Alan Griffin, during an exchange of gunfire that followed an argument at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex Saturday night, police said.</p><p>Shortly before midnight Saturday, a prostitute _ who was not identified _ got into Jackson's red pickup truck and the two began negotiating, authorities said. Unhappy with the terms of the transaction, Jackson allegedly pulled out a gun and shot at the woman, according to an account she gave police.</p><p>The woman ran to get Griffin, who was nearby, and the two men began arguing.</p><p>"There was possible gunfire exchanged; it's not like one person went up and shot another," Atlanta police spokeswoman Sylvia Abernathy said.</p><p>Residents heard four or five gunshots and later saw Griffin lying face-down near the apartment's trash bin, said Emmanuel Thomas, 18.</p><p>Griffin had been shot once. Police found several different shell casings at the scene, but did not find a second gun.</p><p>Jackson was arrested shortly after hiding in woods near the apartment complex.</p><p>Jackson, who was off duty at the time of the shooting, had been with the sheriff's office a couple of years and was assigned to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he oversaw inmates when they were taken there for treatment, sheriff's spokeswoman Nikita Adams-Hightower said. Before that, he worked at Atlanta's Department of Corrections.</p><p>"To my knowledge, we have not had any disciplinary problems with him in the past," Adams-Hightower said.</p><p>Jackson was married in December to a woman who has two children from a previous relationship. He is also the father of a 17-year-old girl from a previous relationship with another woman.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc3c0)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/7/120736