Commerce police shoot man armed with screwdriver after officers say he charged at them

Commerce police officers shot and wounded a man armed with a screwdriver  after authorities said he charged at two officers on Thursday evening.

Officers responded around 6:30 p.m. to a home on Forest Avenue after receiving a 911 call about a domestic dispute, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reports. The caller told 911 responders that a man kicked in a door, threatened people, and then ran to another home on Orchard Drive.

While at the second home, Commerce Police Chief Jeff Drossman said the man was holding a weapon when officers approached him. Officers repeatedly ordered him to drop it, but the chief said the man charged at the first officer. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later identified the object as a screwdriver.

The first officer fired, striking the man, according to Drossman. The chief said the man then got back up and charged at a second officer, who also fired.

The man was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville in critical condition. Drossman said the last update he received indicated the man was alive and undergoing surgery.

Neither officer was injured.

"No one comes to work wanting this to happen, and we try and go through our entire career and not have this happen," Drossman said. "But in the end, our officers are safe. They were not injured."

Drossman said the officers completed an annual eight-hour use-of-force training course about a week before the shooting.

"That training is what kept them safe tonight," he said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Commerce police requested an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

"The case is active and ongoing at this time," the GBI said.