TOCCOA, Ga., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Georgia agents are investigating the death of a minister shot at a convenience store by police working undercover in a drug sting.
Jonathan Ayers, 29, pastor of the Shoal Creek Baptist Church, was shot Wednesday in the store parking lot in Toccoa, 90 miles northeast of Atlanta, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He died at a hospital a short time later after undergoing surgery.
Ayers tried to drive away when two men with guns got out of a Cadillac Escalade. The men were plainclothes officers and they shot Ayers as he sped away, the newspaper said.
Matt Carpenter, Ayers' brother-in-law, said the minister asked paramedics if they knew who had shot him -- suggesting he did not realize the men were police officers. Carpenter said Ayers might not have heard the officers because the windows of his car were rolled up.
The shooting is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. John Bankhead, a spokesman for the agency, said the officers were working for a tri-county drug task force and followed Ayers because he had just dropped off a woman known to be involved in drugs. Both officers are on administrative leave.
"What they saw was indicative of drug transaction," Bankhead said. "They didn't know the guy. They followed him to the convenience store and tried to arrest him."
