An outside agency is handling the investigation into a deputy-involved shooting that took place in Emerald Mountain on Wednesday, July 28.
The deadly shooting involved a 32-year-old man wielding a two-foot long machete-like knife with an 18-inch blade and a deputy with the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. The man has been identified as Jonathan Pears and the identity of the deputy involved has not been released.
According to Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin, Haynes Ambulance initially responded to a medical call at the residence around 5:30 p.m. Haynes personnel realized that there was potentially a domestic crisis in progress and that law enforcement needed to respond as well.
Around the same time, a family member at the residence called 911 for help. Four Elmore County deputies responded to the call. Upon arrival, a man identifying himself as Pears’s father walked out through the front door first and Pears followed behind him.
As a deputy spoke with the father, Pears advanced toward the deputy who was holding back the father. Franklin said the deputy repeatedly told Pears to stop and to drop his weapon, but Pears continued coming at the deputy and the father.
The deputy then shot Pears three times in the upper body. Another deputy tried to revive Pears, but the effort was unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Since the shooting Franklin said he has met with members of Pears family.
“It’s a terrible situation, and I truly feel for the family,” Franklin said. “No deputy ever wants to be put in a situation where they may have to kill someone.”
Franklin said the deputy involved in the shooting has nine years of law enforcement experience and he handled the situation as he was trained to.
Franklin immediately called in a third party law enforcement agency, the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office, to investigate. Once the investigation is complete, the findings will be turned over the District Attorney’s Office. From there it will be presented to a grand jury.
