MOULTRIE — A Sylvester man got much more than he bargained for when he allegedly tried to rob a Moultrie package store at gunpoint Monday evening. He fled from the scene while being shot at by the store owner, and he was later shot by a Norman Park police officer.
Timothy Joseph Cook, 22, of 7325 Valuable St. in Sylvester, was charged with robbery, two counts of possession of tools during the commission of a crime and aggravated assault of a police officer.
Eddie Shour, co-owner of the Moultrie Package Store on North Veterans Parkway, said Cook came up to the counter to purchase a Dr Pepper about 6:02 p.m. Monday. After Shour rang up the drink, Cook allegedly pulled out a handgun and put it in Shour’s face, demanding all the money in the register.
Shour said he instinctively grabbed the handgun and pushed it to the side in case Cook fired it. Shour was able to grab the gun in a way that he also held Cook’s finger off of the trigger.
Shour said he then went behind the counter, losing his grip on Cook’s gun, and grabbed his own gun. Cook allegedly tried to get behind the counter also, but he ran when Shour showed his gun.
“When he saw my gun,” Shour said, “he took off.”
Shour said he followed Cook to the former Waffle King building and saw him get into an older Chevrolet truck and drive off. Shour fired four gunshots at the truck, but he did not know if he hit it or not. When the truck was later recovered, law enforcement said it did have a flat tire possibly shot by Shour.
After the incident at the package store, Shour told Moultrie police the truck got onto Highway 319 and headed toward Norman Park. When the information was reported to the E-911 Center, officers in Norman Park began a lookout for it.
Norman Park Police Chief Shane Fulford said one of the Norman Park police officers spotted the truck and followed it onto Doerun-Norman Park Road. The truck stopped in the middle of the road, near the Son Norman Road intersection, and Cook allegedly jumped out of the truck and began to shoot at the officer, Fulford said.
The officer was not hit and returned fire, and Fulford said Cook was hit once in the arm and fled into nearby woods. He was found by a Colquitt County sheriff’s investigator, placed under arrest and taken to Colquitt Regional Medical Center. The bullet was removed from his arm, and Cook was released and taken to Colquitt County Jail.
Fulford said the officer’s patrol car had four or five gunshots in its windshield, and at least two of those were allegedly from Cook firing at the officer. The officer involved is currently on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Shour said this is the first time the package store has been held up, and he does not know what caused him to grab the gun. The whole incident happened in a few seconds, and it was back open for business after about two hours for an investigation.
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