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Hampton man killed in confrontation with police
Jean A. Cesar, 40, of Hampton man, is dead after investigators say he pointed a gun at police in Lovejoy Saturday morning.
LOVEJOY, Ga. - A Hampton man is dead after an encounter with police in Lovejoy ended in gunfire Saturday morning. Now, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has been called in to investigate the fatal shooting.
Investigators say this all started early when Lovejoy police went to check out a suspicious vehicle in a county park.
"As I was leaving out to run errands, I just [saw] a lot of police activity," resident Latoya Warner said. "I seen some police tape and I did see a GBI police vehicle there."
The GBI confirms a Hampton man was shot and killed by Lovejoy police during a confrontation on Nov. 20, 2024.
That police activity surrounded a black Audi in a parking lot just a short walk from the playgrounds at City Park.
GBI officials say Lovejoy police officers seeking to check the car for registration info were met with a man sitting in the front seat who appeared to be racking the slide of a handgun.
From there, investigators say an officer gave the man orders to drop the gun. Instead, he allegedly pointed his weapon at an officer and that’s when the officer shot him. The man, later identified as 40-year-old Jean A. Cesar, was pronounced dead on the scene. None of the officers were injured.
"That’s very alarming, you know, I don’t live too far from here," Warner said.
The mother of two told FOX 5 she was shocked to see the park where her sons play turned into a crime scene.
"I bring my son over here from time to time, and my oldest son—he plays basketball on the blacktop," she stated.
Warner said she was even more surprised to see a shooting happen so close to the police station.
"There’s a ton of police presence in this area, Lovejoy police. Normally, there’s a police officer sitting in this parking lot," she added.
GBI crime scene investigators spent hours Saturday gathering evidence on the scene while traffic was blocked off on Hastings Bridge Road.
Cesar’s body was taken to the GBI’s Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Lovejoy police declined to comment beyond confirming an officer was involved in the shooting.
After the GBI concludes its investigation, the case will be handed over to the Clayton County District Attorney's Office.
The Source: The information in this article comes from a preliminary investigation released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.