GBI Investigates Officer Involved Shooting in Coweta County

Newnan, GA (January 24, 2022) –  The GBI is investigating an officer involved shooting in Newnan, GA.  The Newnan Police Department asked the GBI to conduct an independent investigation on Sunday, January 23, 2022. Sean Michael Kinney, 37, of Cumming, GA, has died.  No officers were injured.

Preliminary information indicates that at 5:22 p.m., a neighbor called 911 about a domestic incident that occurred at 25 Second Avenue, Newnan, GA.  At 5:27 p.m., the first officers arrived on scene.  When officers were unable to contact someone at the door, the officers queried the license plate of a car parked in the driveway and identified the victim of the domestic.  Officers called the woman but there was no answer.  The Newnan Police Department SWAT team and hostage negotiators were activated, a perimeter was secured around the residence, and numerous attempts were made to talk with the individuals with no success.

Shortly before 7:00 p.m., the SWAT team approached the front door of the home.  While stacked at the front door, a Newnan police officer saw Kinney through a window of the residence with a knife in his hand.  The officer then saw a door open behind Kinney with the woman sitting on the ground.  Kinney turned and started walking toward the woman with the knife in his hand, and the officer fired numerous times through the window killing Kinney. The woman was found safe.  

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Once the investigation is completed, the case file will be given to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office for review. 

Anyone with information regarding this investigation may contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 2 Field Office in Columbus at (706) 565-7888. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1(800) 597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

This is 7th officer involved shooting that the GBI has been asked to investigate in 2022.