A routine welfare check in Fairburn, Georgia turned into a shooting early Thursday morning when a Fairburn police officer opened fire on Dustin Lackey and his family’s two dogs. According to Kelsy Lackey, she called 911 just after midnight because she was worried about a mental health episode involving her husband’s sister. Officers drove the woman home, and police say two family dogs charged them. Lackey says he was shot in the foot while trying to leash the dogs, and his wife says he was hit again as she tried pulling him back inside. His four young children witnessed it all.
Both dogs survived the shooting. One was hit in the chest, the other in the nose, and both are being treated at a veterinarian’s office. Fairburn police asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take over the case, which is standard procedure whenever an officer shoots someone. The family told reporters they’re grateful no one was killed.
The story raises questions that don’t stay in Georgia: how police respond when a call involves mental health rather than a crime, what that response looks like when animals and children are present, and how families get answers when a call for help goes this wrong. For Suncoast communities that deal with their own share of crisis calls, it’s worth following how the GBI investigation unfolds.
What would you want to see happen after a call like this? Share your thoughts with us on the air.
