On September 5, 2019, 68-year-old Sally Louise Harrison was shot and killed outside her home on Riverside Lane in LaGrange, Georgia. Her 65-year-old brother, Sam Burt, was identified at the scene by Harrison’s husband as the person who shot her. The Troup County 911 center received a call at about 2:49 p.m., and deputies and LaGrange police found Harrison deceased outside the residence.

After the shooting Burt ran into nearby woods toward West Point Lake with three dogs, according to the husband’s account. He was later located on a dock by the lake armed with a handgun; officers say two of the dogs were dead and a third was wounded, all having been shot. Law enforcement officers ordered Burt to drop the weapon but say he instead raised it toward them, and multiple deputies and officers fired, striking him. He died despite on-scene life-saving efforts. Both Harrison and Burt were taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies, and the GBI conducted an independent investigation to be submitted to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.