A Georgia SWAT team, acting on a tip from a drug addict, killed a 59-year-old grandfather and businessman in his home while executing a warrant. The informant had stolen a car from the property a few days before.

It was just before 11 p.m. on September 24 in East Dublin, Ga., and David Hooks was asleep. His wife, Teresa, was in her craft room. Their home had been burglarized two days before, and an SUV stolen. Teresa heard a car drive fast up the driveway, and she looked out the window, according to the family’s attorney.

“She saw several men all in black and camo with hoods on,” lawyer Mitch Shook told the Macon Telegraph. “She ran downstairs, woke David and said, ‘The burglars are back’.”

Hook retrieved his shotgun and went downstairs. What happened next is disputed.

Deputies knocked on the door and repeatedly announced, “Sheriff’s department, search warrant,”according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Laurens County Sheriff Bill Harrell said Hook brandished a gun and “demonstrated aggression toward the deputies,” WMAZreported.

But Shook told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the police never knocked or identified themselves, as required by the “knock and announce” warrant.

RT