From staff reports

From staff reports

Jerraymus Touchstone, the shooting suspect that has been on the run since June 10, 2007, was arrested Friday night by the Griffin Police Department’s Tactical Response Unit (TRU) during a joint counter-drug operation that also involved the Special Operations Unit of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Department and the Pike County Drug Task Force.

Mr. Touchstone is the suspect in a shooting that left Antonio Hixon hospitalized in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

The Griffin Tactical Response Unit was assisting the other agencies with a drug-related search warrant in the 300 block of North 14th Street in which 10 people were detained.

The TRU officers noticed that one of the suspects was unusually quiet and that this suspect, except for a recent haircut, matched the physical description of the fugitive. “When he provided a name and date-of-birth, it was obvious that the information was meant to mislead us,” said TRU Officer Bryan Clanton. “TRU Officer Jeremy Bennett addressed him by his real name, Jerraymus, and he realized we knew who his real identity. The suspect lowered his head and asked to be taken to a patrol car,”

When notified of the arrest by phone, Chief Frank Strickland stated, “I had no doubt that my people could locate the suspect and arrest him. The TRU officers that arrested him and the investigators did an excellent job on this investigation over the last two weeks.”

The other TRU members that were involved in Friday night’s arrest were Drew Jackson,

Joe Hudson, and Curtis Keys.

The Tactical Response Unit is a six man team made up of veteran officers that is responsible for aggressive suppression of street level crime and most notably illegal drug activities. They are also members of the department’s Special Response Team and can function as a small unit version of the SRT.