On the night of April 22, 2003, Fulton County Police Officer Aaron Jovon Blount, a 26-year-old male, had been at his desk for most of his shift before heading out on patrol. Only 18 minutes after leaving the station, he observed a vehicle being driven erratically in the Red Oak area of Fulton County, Georgia. At approximately 10:00 p.m., he initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Roosevelt Highway and Ben Hill Road.
Before he could even radio in the stop, the driver of the other vehicle exited his car and opened fire on Officer Blount, who was still seated in his patrol car. He was struck by gunfire twice in the head and once in the shoulder.
A fellow officer, passing by the intersection, noticed Officer Blount's patrol car with its emergency lights still flashing. The car, which had been left in drive, had rolled across the highway and come to a stop against a set of railroad tracks. Inside, the officer found Aaron Blount slumped over the steering wheel. He was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly after arrival. At the time of his death, Officer Blount had been with the Fulton County Police Department for just under three years and was survived by his fiancée and their 13-month-old son.
The man who shot Officer Blount fled the scene, sparking a multi-state manhunt. Five days after the shooting, the suspect, identified as Kenneth Gerald Reese, was apprehended by U.S. Marshals and Miami-Dade police officers in Miami, Florida. Reese was extradited back to Fulton County, where he was charged with capital murder. Investigators learned that after the initial shots, Reese returned to his vehicle to get a second handgun and shot Blount again at close range.
On January 13, 2009, Kenneth Gerald Reese pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. During the legal proceedings, it was suggested that an ephedra-based diet drug may have played a role in his actions, potentially causing a drug-related psychosis, as Reese had no prior history of violence. This possibility was raised by the prosecution's own psychiatrist and was a factor in the decision to accept a plea deal for life in prison without the possibility of parole, rather than seeking the death penalty.
