In the quiet of a late summer afternoon in LaGrange, Georgia, a domestic scene turned irrevocably tragic, ending the life of 68-year-old Sally Louise Harrison. On September 5, 2019, Harrison was outside her home on Riverside Lane with her younger brother, 65-year-old Sam Burt. The tranquility of the day was shattered when Burt fatally shot his sister. Her husband, who was inside the residence at the time, heard the gunshots and witnessed his brother-in-law fleeing the scene.
The Troup County 911 dispatch received an emergency call around 2:49 p.m. reporting the shooting. When Troup County deputies and LaGrange police officers arrived at the home, they discovered Sally Harrison deceased outside the residence. Information provided at the scene immediately pointed to her brother, Sam Burt, as the perpetrator. According to Harrison's husband, after the shooting, Burt ran into the nearby woods, heading towards West Point Lake, accompanied by three dogs.
A search for Burt was promptly initiated by law enforcement. He was eventually located on a dock by the lake. Officers found him armed with a handgun and noted that two of the dogs with him were deceased and a third was injured, all having been shot by Burt. Law enforcement officials attempted to de-escalate the situation, issuing commands for Burt to drop his weapon. However, he refused to comply.
The standoff reached a critical point when Burt raised his handgun towards the officers. In response, several deputies and officers fired their weapons, striking him multiple times. Despite life-saving measures attempted by the police on the scene, Burt succumbed to his injuries. Both his and Sally Harrison's bodies were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was tasked with conducting an independent investigation into both the murder and the subsequent officer-involved shooting. Following the completion of their investigation, the case was to be turned over to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for review.
