911 calls tell story of clash that injured cop, killed homeless man
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Newly obtained 911 calls and public safety radio traffic paint a chilling scene of an armed confrontation that wounded a Richmond County deputy and left a homeless man dead over the weekend.
Deputies said when they responded to a report of a man with a gun, he shot at them and they shot back. Deputy Kenneth Mercer was wounded and the man with the gun, Duterval Sejour, was killed.
Business owners and witnesses tell News 12 it was business as usual until shots rang out behind a business at Ellis and 12th streets. The first 911 call came it at around 11:22 a.m. Saturday.
Dispatcher: “911 - Do you need police, fire, or ambulance?”
911 caller: “I need police. I had a gun pointed at me. I had a homeless person I was trying to get off my property and he pointed a gun at me. I mean, he walked up and pulled a gun on my face. I mean, I thought he was going to shoot me.”
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The caller tells dispatchers the address of the building is 1216 Ellis St.
911 caller: “He’s there and he’s armed.”
Less than 45 seconds later, another 911 calls comes in.
Second 911 caller: “I was walking out of my apartment and there is a man at the corner of the street with a gun who is out of his mind. He’s yelling at me as if I have interacted with him before. I have not. He had a gun and pointed it at me and said I’m not going to shoot you, and you were talking to him kind of out of his mind. I’ve never seen this man in my life. I don’t know what his story is. He’s out of his mind.”
At this time, several deputies were dispatched to Ellis Street.
Dispatcher: “Ellis Street and 12 street, Ellis and 12th, man with a gun. If I get a description, I’ll advise.”
Deputies relay that 36-year-old Duterval Sejour barricaded himself inside a fenced in area behind the business.
Deputies: “He’s refusing to come out and he’s trying to keep a visual on him, but he’s hiding.”
More than 20 minutes go by before another man calls dispatchers. Deputies believe this was Sejour.
Sejour: “I have a gentleman, I am on some property that nobody owns, according to my knowledge, nobody own it. And he is literally out here trying to tell me, ‘Oh, I don’t belong on the property.’ That is not his property. It’s nobody’s property.”
While the man doesn’t identify himself to dispatchers, deputies are able to put a drone in the air and get deputies on the roof of a nearby business. They can see the man is on the phone and has a firearm.
Deputies: “Be careful. He keeps putting that hand he’s got the cellphone in right next to that firearm.”
That’s when Sejour claims a man pulled a gun on him.
Sejour: “He is mad. He can’t open the gate. He just literally pulled out a gun on me. Him and his people just pulled out a gun on me.”
The dispatcher tells him to talk with officers on the scene who are trying to get in.
Sejour: “Call the FBI for me, OK? Or I will call the FBI next, OK? Are we OK with that?”
“Ma’am, I will call the FBI if you don’t back up your officers. I am capable,” continued Sejour. “I will call the FBI and this will be a bad uncomfortable situation. Five, four. I am going to call the FBI.”
The dispatcher repeatedly asks Sejour to identify himself.
Dispatcher: “Talk to the officers who are out there to assist you.”
Sejour: “To assist me? OK, thank you.”
Dispatcher: “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”
That’s when a high-pitched frequency went out over the radio saying an officer was down.
Dispatcher radio traffic: “Dispatch to all units we have an officer down, officer down. Ellis Street and 12th Street, Ellis Street and 12th Street.”
Deputies: “Mercer down, Mercer down. Dispatch, I need Gold Cross 10-18. Dispatch, give me everything you got. We can’t see him. We have an officer down and we have to get to him. Dispatch, advise EMS that he’s bleeding from the neck.”
Deputies exchange gunfire and quickly take Sejour down to get to Mercer.
Radio traffic: “I need him to be down. We got to get to Mercer. If ya’ll can take another shot to get him down, I want him down. We’re going to advance. If you see him move, take him out.”
Deputies eventually confirm that Sejour is down and work to transport Mercer to Augusta University Medical Center.
Radio traffic: “Slow all units, suspect is down.”
‘One of the nicest people you ever meet’
Mercer’s injuries are still unknown at this time, but Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree says Mercer is continuing his journey of recovery after being shot in the line of duty Saturday.
Now more friends and former colleagues are coming forward to send well-wishes his way.
“There are a few icons left on the sheriff’s department, and he’s definitely one of them and still gonna be one of them,” said Steven Bell, a friend and former Augusta fire chief.
Boomer Clark describes Mercer as dedicated, strong, and one of the best to do it after working with him in the early years of his career at the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
“He was very professional. He took his job extremely seriously,” he said.
Bell says after 42 years of working at the Augusta Fire Department, his interactions with Mercer were always memorable.
“You meet some people that are above and beyond. He was doing his job, I was doing mine. Deputy Mercer was just one of the nicest people you ever meet,” he said.
Clark says back in 2007 on one of their first calls together, he realized Mercer was a team player, destined to go far in his career.
“Deputy Mercer came to me and said, look I don’t know what to do. He said, I can’t, you know, figure this out. I said we will both put our heads together and somehow make this work, which in fact we did and it had a happy ending,” he said.
As the community prays and Mercer fights, his former colleagues are confident he’ll continue to push through.
“Deputy Mercer, you’re tough. You’re gonna make it,” said Clark.
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