Seven weeks after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation began a probe into the shot reported around the world, here’s the agency’s conclusion: “A tragic, tragic accident,” according to criminal attorney Tom Cook, spokesman for Peachtree City Police Chief Will McCollom.
Cook said he talked with Fayette District Attorney Scott Ballard Friday afternoon, just minutes after the DA received the GBI investigation.
The GBI agents who delivered the report to Ballard characterized the shooting of Maggie McCollom by Will McCollom as “a tragic, tragic accident,” Cook told The Citizen Friday.
Ballard said it will take some time to review the volume of material in the report to determine how to proceed. However, in a TV interview the same afternoon, Ballard said he had come to a preliminary conclusion about the Jan. 1 event, but declined to say what that conclusion was.
Since the GBI investigation determined the shooting was an accident, Ballard is left to determine whether the shooting was the result of negligence and, if so, whether that negligence rose to the level of a criminal offense under Georgia law.
Maggie McCollom, 58, was shot in the back early New Year’s Day as she slept beside the chief — whom she had married and divorced in the 1990s — 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 he had shot her accidentally and asked for medical assistance ASAP. Asked where she was shot, McCollom said she was shot in the back.
Meanwhile, Chief McCollom is seven weeks into paid administrative leave from the department, which is being run in his absence by Capt. Stan Pye.
McCollom “spends most of his time with Maggie,” Cook said Friday. “She is good spirits, but still dealing with complications” that arise from a gunshot wound to the spine and is currently hospitalized with paralysis from the waist down.
“She’s very alert and responsive, but she is fighting complications,” Cook said.
Cook said he and his investigator met with Ballard Friday to present additional information.
Ballard said he told 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 just prior to the meeting with Cook. “He may have other information.”
Cook, whose office is in Atlanta but who said he has practiced criminal law in Fayette County since the late 1980s, said he showed Ballard a video interview with Maggie McCollom to aid the DA in making a decision.
Ballard had “several concerns,” Cook said, leading the lawyer and his investigator to “demonstrating some things (Ballard) was concerned about.” He didn’t specify Ballard’s concerns.
Ballard said it will take some time to review the volume of material in the report to determine how to proceed.
The GBI report included a flash memory thumb drive and disk containing detailed information such as medical records, lab test results and multiple interviews with multiple people, the DA said.
“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 was personally prosecuting a double homicide in neighboring Spalding County this week and that his decision on whether to charge Chief McCollom with anything must await the outcome of that trial.
“We think the findings really don’t warrant any further legal proceedings,” Cook said Friday.
There currently are no contacts with Chief McCollom’s employer, Peachtree City, about the chief’s future with the city, but Cook said that with the completion of the GBI investigation and following the DA’s decision, such contact could start soon. — Also reported by Ben Nelms.
