Police blotter
Inquiry clears deputies in shooting after chase
Three Columbia County sheriff's deputies involved in a shooting Oct. 22 were cleared of wrongdoing and have returned to work.
Columbia County sheriff's Deputies Gil Lopez Jr., Ronald Hynson and James Graham were cleared by an internal investigation, sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
Police say the deputies shot Jerome Aaron Stokes, 33, of West Lake Shore Drive in Martinez, on Oct. 22 after he led them on a chase on River Watch Parkway that ended at Stevens Creek Road.
The investigation found the deputies did not violate any department policies in their use of force, Morris said.
Stokes spent more than a week in Medical College of Georgia Hospital before being released to Columbia County authorities Sunday.
He posted a $16,200 bond Sunday on 12 moving violations associated with the chase, according to Columbia County jail records. He was then booked into the Richmond County jail. He was released Monday after posting a $27,600 bond for two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of interference with government property, Richmond County sheriff's Maj. Ken Autry said.
Martinez man arrested after police chase
A Martinez man was arrested Tuesday night, accused of leading police on a chase that involved three municipalities: North Augusta and Richmond and Columbia counties.
Chris Brian Gomillion, 29, is charged with felony attempting to elude and driving without a license. He was in custody at the Richmond County jail Friday morning.
At about 5:30 p.m., North Augusta police started chasing Gomillion's Buick LeSabre after getting calls about him punching his girlfriend and threatening her family with a gun at a Pershing Avenue home, said Sgt. Travis Red, of the North Augusta Department of Public Safety.
The chase continued on Georgia Avenue and across the 13th Street bridge.
Richmond County deputies then took over and followed the car onto Furys Ferry Road, Red said.
Columbia County police continued the chase on Old Evans and Old Petersburg roads. It ended at about 6 p.m. when Gomillion got out of his car and ran, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
Police detained Gomillion at Padrick and Vernon streets with the help of residents, Red said.
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office:
Martinez store is robbed at gunpoint
A man donned a ski mask and robbed a Martinez store at gunpoint Halloween night, according to a Columbia County sheriff's incident report.
An assistant manager of The Family Dollar on South Belair Road told police she was helping a customer at about 8 p.m. when she asked the man to leave the store so she could close, according to the report.
She said the man ran to the back of the building, put on a ski mask and pointed a black, semiautomatic pistol at her, according to the report.
The manager said the man demanded that she empty the register, which she said she did, into a plastic bag. The man then reportedly forced the manager and an unidentified second person into an office of the store to empty a safe.
After emptying the safe, the robber forced the two to the floor, before fleeing with the manager's keys, according to the report. The suspect was identified as a black male, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds.
Car dealerships report tires, wheels stolen
Workers at two Washington Road car dealerships told police they had several thousand dollars in high-end tires and wheels stolen on Halloween night.
Managers of Hank Aaron Jaguar at 4180 Washington Road in Evans called police Tuesday morning to report the theft of eight 20-inch BBS Perseus wheels, eight 20-inch Pirelli tires, four 19-inch BBS Atlas wheels and four 19-inch Pirelli tires worth a total of $36,000, according to a police report.
The wheels and tires were removed overnight from three vehicles on the lot, the report states. Two of the vehicles, a black 2006 Jaguar XKR and a tan 2006 Jaguar XK8, received minor damage, according to the report.
A salesman at Master Pontiac at 3710 Washington Road in Martinez also reported the theft of tires and wheels off a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP. Thieves reportedly made off with four 18-inch Alcoe wheels and four 18-inch Bridgestone tires worth a total of $5,200, according to the report.
No suspects were named in either case.
Suspicious person report
A Martinez woman told police Tuesday she was the recipient of unusual letters from a man she routinely sees walking in her neighborhood.
The woman told police a man who walks by her house gave her 14 handwritten notes sometime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 15, according to the police report.
Four of the notes, written on napkins, detailed ways the woman could save money.
Ten of the notes, written on notebook paper, contained narratives of bombmaking, weapons, people killed during a war, mathematical equations and solutions and other references the woman found "disturbing," according to the report.