Community mourns death of officer killed while responding to call

By Jamie Kennedy

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    CLAYTON COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL) — Chaos in a quiet neighborhood of Clayton County.

Neighbors describing their community like a warzone.

“Before the police got here there was already 15 shots. First two police pulled up on the scene, another good six shots. After they retreat and get back, and the tactical squad got here, pfft, that’s when Afghanistan happened,” said a neighbor who witnessed the events and didn’t want to give his identity.

Clayton County Police said they received a domestic violence call to Jervis Ct in Rex, as soon as they arrived things escalated quickly.

”We had calls of possible gunfire, domestic violence, and persons down at a residence. The initial responding officers were actually met by a 12 year old juvenile who was shot in the face. He was able to lead officers to the residence.” said Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Robertson.

Police said they found a woman lying motionless in a neighbor’s front yard, a neighbor says was the suspects mother, and attempted to render aid and were immediately met with gunshots.

It was then the suspect, now identified by police as 35-year-old Arthur Allen Gilliam, ran to the back of the house, according to witnesses, where he met a SWAT team and shot and killed Officer Henry Laxson, and shot Officer Alex Chandler in the hand.

Police eventually shot and killed Gilliam and later found another dead woman inside Gilliam’s residency, who neighbors said was renting a room in Gilliam’s mother’s house, where the events started.

Officer Laxson’s death marks the third officer killed on duty this month in metro Atlanta responding to a domestic violence call.

“Police officers responding to calls of domestic violence is one of the most dangerous calls that they can report to,” said Cedric Alexander, Pubic Safety Expert.

Friends, family and Clayton County Police still coming to grips with the deadly events.

“He was their best and officer Chandler was right there with him,” said Jesse Strutko, a good friend of officer Laxson and former Clayton County Police dispatcher. The world that we live in today, there’s a lot of mistakes and there’s a lot of darkness, but officer Laxon was one person that was a good officer and he was a great person and it showed through his heart.”

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