RAY CITY — A man is dead after a shooting incident with law enforcement in Berrien County.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident involving a Ray City police officer.

AT 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, two Ray City Police Department officers responded to the 100 block of Pauline Avenue to conduct a wellness check, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement said.

The officers found a man with a knife. The man approached the officers with the knife and the policemen shot him, according to the GBI statement. 

Officers rendered first aid until emergency medical personnel arrived; the man with the knife was taken to South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta, where he died, the GBI said.

The bureau identified the man wielding the knife as Donald Myers, a 48-year-old, white male. His body will be taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, according to the statement. The race of the officers was not immediately available for release, according to the GBI.

The GBI will continue to conduct an independent investigation.  Once the investigation is complete, it will be submitted to the Alapaha District Attorney’s Office for review.

Anyone with information about this case should contact the GBI’s Douglas Office at (912) 389-4103 or the Ray City Police Department at (229) 455-2501. 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.

The Berrien County incident marks the 35th police-related shooting that the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2021.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.