The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is reviewing a deputy's fatal shooting of a 37-year-old black man Tuesday in Thomasville, Georgia, about 30 miles from Tallahassee.

A GBI press release says agents from the Thomas County Sheriff's Office Narcotics and Vice Division were executing a search warrant in the Magnolia and Fern Street area around 4:20 p.m. when Herbert "Pop" Gilbert was shot.

The incident involved police vehicles and Gilbert's vehicle prior to the shooting.

The deputy involved has been identified as agent Josh Smith, who is white. He started at TCSO in June 2012. Sheriff Carlton Powell said the officer is on temporary administrative leave, the Thomasville Times-Enterprise reported. In a separate 2015 incident, Smith was suspended for not adhering to proper arrest procedures, the paper reported.

TCSO said it could not comment on the situation as long as it's under active investigation.

Thomasville Mayor Greg Hobbs said the incident was "a tragic event for our community."

Hobbs' office and the Chief of Police issued a joint statement Wednesday.

“On behalf of the Thomasville City Council and the entire City family, we want to begin by expressing our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased,” said Mayor Hobbs. “This was a tragic event for our community.”

The latest deadly shooting of a black man by law enforcement triggered demonstrations. Holding signs that read "Justice for Herbert" and "We are Pop," dozens of protesters marched through downtown Thomasville Wednesday and Thursday morning.  A community vigil was also held on Magnolia Street.

During Wednesday's protest, a driver reportedly rode a golf cart into the crowd, said protester and relative of Gilbert, Desma Brown. The driver has been charged with reckless conduct, TCSO announced on Facebook.

Brown says Gilbert was her cousin's father.

She was one of dozens of marchers chanting, "All lives matter — united, we stand; divided, we fall."

She said the group of mostly black protesters chose to chant "all lives matter" rather than "black lives matter," to commemorate the lives of other minority races.

Brown first heard about the shooting during her 6 p.m. lunch break. Gilbert lived on Magnolia Street, as did many of Brown's family and friends.

"I'm just so shocked, ma'am," said Brown, 28, in a telephone interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. "In my point of view, his good outweighed his bad."

Witnesses told Brown Gilbert was shot multiple times, however, TCSO said it could not comment with information as the shooting is still under active investigation.

"He was a great father," Brown recalled.

Brown's friend Laquitta Williams, 31, lived in Thomasville for 25 years before moving to Tallahassee recently. She said Gilbert was her friend and would "give you the shirt off his back."

"Everyone has a past," Williams said about him.

Jail records show Gilbert was charged with several offenses since 2005, including cocaine possession, cocaine possession with intent to distribute and cruelty toward child (family offense), the Times-Enterprise reported.

Reach Nada Hassanein at [email protected] or on Twitter @nhassanein_.

Two Georgia men have been charged with making terroristic threats toward a white sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a black man while serving a search warrant in Thomasville, Georgia, last week.

A Thomas County judge on Monday denied bond to Levon Griffin and Luther Engram, who are both charged with felony terroristic threats and acts.

The alleged threats were made on social media from the scene of the Aug. 15 shooting death of 37-year-old Herbert Gilbert. Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputy Josh Smith shot and killed Gilbert when narcotics/vice division agents approached Gilbert’s house to serve a search warrant.

The shooting sparked immediate backlash in Gilbert’s community, with many locals frustrated by the lack of information released by authorities.

Smith is currently on administrative leave pending a formal Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe of the shooting.

Capt. Steven Jones, TCSO’s public information officer, said both Griffin and Engram posted threats to officers and their families on social media, while Engram specifically referenced Smith’s home.

“His statement was that they had gone over to shoot up Deputy (Josh) Smith’s residence, but he was not at home,” Jones said.

Authorities have released few details since the notification of Gilbert's death last week. Jones confirmed that a narcotics agent, now identified as Smith, was attempting to serve a warrant at a house when the shooting occurred.

A GBI press release says the incident involved Gilbert's vehicle and drug squad vehicles prior to the shooting.

"There wasn't a pursuit. The vehicles were involved in a collision," said Marko Jones, assistant special agent in charge of the Thomasville GBI office.

When asked if Gilbert was armed, Jones said GBI agents are viewing video from drug agents' body cameras.

Georgia State Patrol troopers responded to the scene on Aug. 15 to assist with crowd control as hundreds gathered at the shooting site, filling nearby streets and a convenience store parking lot.

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Magnolia St. shooting
A bystander at the Tuesday shooting scene listens to Thomasville police Sgt. Toby Knifer as the officer enlarges the crime scene with crime scene tape.
Patti Dozier/Times-Enterprise
Johnny James, a bystander, expressed his grief.

“We need some help around here,” he said. “It hurt to see a young man down there dead.”

Dozens of people rallied outside the jail the following day.

"I'm out here protesting for a man that was shot for no reason at all," protestor William Gibson said. He added that he did not think police followed proper procedures.

A larger rally held Monday, Aug. 21, attracted locals and regional activists from groups such as Black Lives Matter and the Black Panthers.

Chants of ‘"no justice, no peace,” “hands up, don’t shoot,” among others rang through the downtown Thomasville streets.  Police blocked off sections of downtown to allow the marchers to pass.

"As long as they are protesting peacefully, it is their right to do it," Thomas County Sheriff Carlton Powell said last week. "We’re asking them not to impede traffic and have this develop into something else that might cause somebody else to get hurt. There are people in the community who are upset. We are asking for cooler heads to prevail."

The Thomasville, Georgia, Times-Enterprise contributed to this story.

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Is that a slide fire stock with the optic mounted on the carry handle?

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Nice. I saw some dickhead in an Antifa costume in the Leesburg Walmart earlier today. He wasn't down to fight though.

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This was in Leesburg, GA, just a little bit up the road from Thomasville. He was just wearing head-to-toe black, including black denim vest with a little Anarcho-Communist flag on the back.

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and nobody missed work.

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This was in Leesburg, GA, just a little bit up the road from Thomasville. He was just wearing head-to-toe black, including black denim vest with a little Anarcho-Communist flag on the back.

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LOL at the shitty mallninja AR.

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It was a local first for me. It's pretty rare to even see someone else in a punk band t-shirt. I wouldn't be surprised if he was from out of town. I'm sure the Black Panthers are from Atlanta.

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This is how they basically got their start, just going back to their roots.

Originally Posted By @compulynx :
Hey! We live close!!!!


Other thread

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I am going to Atlanta this weekend for a soccer tournament otherwise I would be going downtown to see the show...

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We should meet up and have a chili dog at the pool hall or something.