GBI investigates stabbings, officer-involved shooting death in P - WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

PORT WENTWORTH, GA (WTOC) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred on Highway 21 in Port Wentworth early on Tuesday morning.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a little after 5 a.m., Port Wentworth Police responded to a call of a stabbing at the C&S Mobile Homes off of Highway 21 near Jimmy Deloach Parkway. Neighbors on both sides of the street said they woke up to a bleeding man banging on their doors asking for help.

When police arrived, they found Jason Hamrick and Jamie Brinas with stab wounds. Brinas was holding a child at the time. All three were transported and are in the hospital in unknown conditions. Neighbors reported hearing several gunshots.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and it would never stop,” said neighbor Phillis Howard. “And I know something is going on isn't right and it's close to my house."

"Everybody kind of watches out after each other around here,” said neighbor Gene Bethune. “And you can leave your house and go to town and come back and everything in your house will still be there."

A fourth person at the scene, 23-year-old Christopher Mitchell, was involved in a shooting with officers. Mitchell did not comply with officers' orders and was shot and killed at the scene. He stabbed one officer during the altercation, but the officer's bullet proof vest was able to stop the blade. 

The GBI has been interviewing officers and firefighters that responded to the scene. An official with the GBI said when officers reported to the scene, the stabbing suspect refused to comply with officers' demands, leading officers to shoot and kill him.

There has been no word on whether one officer or multiple officers fired, but we do know the ethnicity of the three officers at the scene: one is white, one is black and a third is Latino. The deceased suspect is a white male. 

"Again, just trying to find out what happened, sort out the facts, figure out who did what and we will go from there. Obviously a very sad day for everyone, the police, and the victim as well. So right now, we are following our leads, talking to people and see what we find out," Special Agent Catherine Sapp said.

The GBI is scheduled to meet with the Chatham County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday afternoon to plan the next steps in the investigation. WTOC's Conny Cooper is working to get more information from that meeting.