Decision on any charges facing Chief McCollom to follow DA’s review; Maggie McCollom still fighting complications of paralyzing gunshot
UPDATED Friday, Feb. 20, 2015, 7:45 p.m. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s report characterizes the Jan. 1 shooting of Margaret McCollom as a “tragic, tragic accident,” according to the attorney for her husband, Peachtree City Police Chief Will McCollom.
The GBI handed over the report of its seven-week investigation Friday afternoon to Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard, who said it would be at least a week before he can examine all the evidence and come to a conclusion whether any laws were broken.
Chief McCollom is on paid administrative leave from the department he has headed since last summer, pending Ballard’s decision.
“We think the findings really don’t warrant any further legal proceedings,” said Atlanta criminal attorney Tom Cook after meeting with Ballard late Friday afternoon in Fayetteville.
Cook, who said he has represented many clients in Fayette courts since the late 1980s, declined to speculate about what Ballard might decide or when, but noted that the DA is about to prosecute a case in the next week involving a double murder in neighboring Spalding County.
Meanwhile, “Will spends most of his time with Maggie,” Cook said. “She is good spirits, but still dealing with complications” that arise from a gunshot wound to the spine and is currently hospitalized.
“She’s very alert and responsive, but she is fighting complications,” Cook said.
The defense attorney said he showed Ballard a video of his recent interview with Maggie McCollom to aid the DA in reaching a decision.
The DA questioned Cook and Cook’s investigator about the New Year’s Day shooting, to the point of “demonstrating some things (Ballard) was concerned about,” Cook said.
Cook said there currently are no contacts with Chief McCollom’s employer, Peachtree City, about the chief’s future with the city, but said that with the completion of the GBI investigation and following the DA’s decision, such contact could start soon.
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EARLIER ONLINE VERSION —
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard on Friday announced that he has received the findings of the investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) into the Jan. 1 shooting of Maggie McCollom by her husband, Peachtree City Police Chief William McCollom in their Peachtree City home.
Ballard said it will take some time to review the volume of material in the report to determine how to proceed.
The single gunshot paralyzed the chief’s wife from the waist down, according to multiple news reports in the days after the incident.
Ballard on Friday said he received the reports findings from the GBI earlier in the afternoon and took possession of a thumb drive and disk containing detailed information such as medical records, lab test results and multiple interviews with multiple people.
“The objective will be to find if there is proof of a violation of the law and to pursue it as I would in any other case,” Ballard said. “It will take a little while to go through it.”
Ballard said he told Chief McCollom’s lawyer, Tom Cook, he would let Cook make a pitch and share any other additional information before making a decision on how to proceed.
“I want to make sure I have all the information available,” Ballard said. “He may have other information.”
Pertaining to the time frame involved in rendering a decision on how to proceed, Ballard said, “The timing of my ability is affected by trying a double homicide in Spalding County next week, so I don’t know when I’ll be finished to look at this.”
The GBI conducted the investigation that began after the shooting in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Maggie McCollom, 58, was shot in the back early New Year’s Day as she slept in the couple’s home at 103 Autumn Leaf in south Peachtree City. Chief McCollom — who is on administrative leave from his position — told a 911 dispatcher just after 4 a.m. that his 9mm Glock service handgun was in bed with the couple and accidentally fired when he “went to move it and put it to the side.”
McCollom in the 911 recording released Jan. 2 said his wife had been shot. McCollom said he had shot her accidentally and asked for medical assistance ASAP. Asked where she was shot, McCollom said she was shot in the back.
Maggie McCollom was released from Atlanta Medical Center in mid-January, but has since been re-hospitalized due to complications from the single gunshot that resulted in paralysis from her waist down.
