Crime & Safety

Cobb Police Keep Mum about Possible Weapon in Slain Man's Car

Cobb Police are not releasing additional details about the active investigation of a man killed by a Cobb Police officer in May.

Cobb County Police are not releasing whether they found a gun in the car of Matt Murdock, the Cumming man who was shot and killed by in Mableton two months ago.

According to police, a Cobb Sheriff’s deputy, who stopped to assist, had a physical confrontation with Murdock. Henry arrived, saw the struggle and fired shots, police said, after he saw Murdock reach for what he believed to be a weapon.

However, according to a report from the Marietta Daily Journal, a gun was not listed on the inventory list of items taken from the 2003 green Volkswagen Passat he was driving the night he was shot. He had borrowed the car from his father, who was repairing his own.

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The items that were on the list, according to the report, are:

* a black nylon holster

* two 9mm magazines with 13 rounds apiece

* a wooden-handled hunting knife

* a Georgia firearms permit

* a plastic bag containing blue pills

* a pill bottle containing blue capsules

On Monday, the Cobb County Police Department’s public information officers met with the department's command staff. It was decided that information about whether a gun was found in the car would not be released at this time as it is a key detail in the open investigations.

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Currently, there are two active investigations of this case: Cobb County Department of Public Safety Internal Affairs investigation and a Cobb County Police Department Crimes Against Persons investigation.

After both investigations are complete, the final reports are sent to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

From there, the District Attorney Pat Head (or the current district attorney at the time the investigations are completed) and his staff will determine whether more investigation is needed, whether they should conduct their own investigation or if the Georgia Bureau of Investigation should conduct an investigation.

Lastly, the district attorney has a grand jury give a ruling on the findings of the investigations.

The grand jury involvement is “another layer to ensure there’s no impropriety,” said Sgt. Dana Pierce, spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department. “We take the very cautious, very conservative side of what needs to be done.”

Pierce also said that no member of the Cobb County Police Department has ever been indicted in cases where that officer has shot or somehow killed another person.

Henry remains on administrative duty.


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