Tafahree Maynard, 18, is considered ARMED AND DANGEROUS. DO NOT APPROACH. Anyone with information is asked to call GCPD at 770-513-5710 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS to remain anonymous.
By Bill Hutchinson, Will Cruz and Joshua Hoyos, ABC News
A manhunt was underway Sunday for a suspect in the killing of a police officer near a suburban Atlanta school after he and his partner responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle, authorities said.
Tafahree Maynard, 18, is considered “armed and dangerous” and is believed to be the gunman who opened fire without warning Saturday afternoon on Gwinnett County Police Officer Antwan Toney and his partner, police said.
Maynard is wanted on suspicion of felony murder and aggravated assault in the death of Toney, who had recently celebrated his 30th birthday with colleagues in Las Vegas and was just six days short of marking his third anniversary as a member of the department, officials said.
(The police officer was responding to a call that someone was smoking marijuana inside a vehicle parked near a middle school; a second suspect is still at large. Courtesy of ABC News and YouTube. Posted on Oct 21, 2018.)
Toney and another officer approached a vehicle near the Shiloh Middle School in Snellville about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday to check out a report of people smoking marijuana, according to Sgt. Jake Smith of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
“Before they could even get to the vehicle the shots rang out” from inside the car, Smith said, adding that such things don’t happen “99.999 percent” of the time.
“That it went this way, it’s just tragic,” Smith said.
This was the first police job for Officer Toney. Prior to working for our agency, he worked as a security guard. His immediate family lives in California.
Toney’s partner, who has not been identified, was not injured and dragged the mortally wounded officer away for cover, Smith said.
Gwinnett Officer Antwan Toney, 30, was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday.
“The people that worked with Officer Toney on a daily basis recalled a very jovial person who was dedicated to his job and dedicated to his community”
It was not immediately clear where Toney was struck. He was taken to nearby Gwinnett County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“What a chief wants to hear is that the officer is OK. And when I asked that question, that wasn’t the answer I got,” Gwinnett County Police Chief Butch Ayers said during an emotional news conference late Saturday.
(The 30-year-old police officer, originally from California, was about to celebrate 3 years with the department, according to Gwinnett Police Chief Butch Ayers. Officer Antwan Toney’s death is the fifth officer killed in the department’s history. Courtesy of 11Alive and YouTube. Posted on Oct 20, 2018.)
When Toney graduated from the police academy in 2015, it was Ayers who presented him with his badge.
“The people that worked with Officer Toney on a daily basis recalled a very jovial person who was dedicated to his job and dedicated to his community,” Ayers said.
The GCPD officer shot in the line of duty has died as a result of his injuries. Efforts are ongoing to locate the suspect responsible. Media post is at Hwy. 78 and Killian Hill Rd.
Initial reports indicated that the vehicle Toney and his partner were called to investigate contained as many a four people.
Following the shooting, the car took off and crashed less than a mile from the shooting scene, Smith said.
The officers returned fire, but it was unclear whether anyone in the car was wounded or whether the car simply crashed while fleeing, Smith said.
The suspects fled on foot.
(What we know about the officer killed and the search for the teen accused of shooting him. Courtesy of 11Alive and YouTube. Posted on Oct 21, 2018.)
One suspect, Isaiah Pretlow, 19, was arrested soon after shooting and charged with aggravated assault, officials said.
Pretlow was nabbed after he allegedly opened fire on U.S. Marshals as they approached him, officials said.
The marshals were not injured while arresting Pretlow, officials said.
Ayers said investigators are reviewing body camera footage of the shooting, but did not specify whose body camera footage he was referring to.
Earlier, Smith had said most of the officers in the department have body cameras, but not all.
Isaiah Pretlow (in dreadlocks) has been arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault. Still at large is Tafahree Maynard, who is charged with Aggravated Assault and Felony Murder in connection with Ofc. Toney’s murder. Anyone with information on Maynard should call 770-513-5710. pic.twitter.com/18w0JXV1VG
Friends and community residents joined officers who worked with Toney for a candlelight vigil Saturday night at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Memorial in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
“He was practically like a brother. He was over at my house all the time,” Reginald Pierre, a friend of Toney’s who attended the vigil, told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: Thank you for your service to the people of Gwinnett County Officer Toney. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family, both blood and blue. You will not be forgotten.
