A corrections officer from D. Ray James Prison in Folkston shot a federal inmate who had wrestled a service weapon away from another corrections officer at a Kingsland medical office and fired it, police said.
Two corrections officers had taken three inmates to a medical office at 130 Gross Road in Kingsland about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday when one of the inmates, a 33-year-old man, attacked one of the guards, Lt. Todd Tetterton of the Kingsland police said in a prepared release.
Although he was in leg irons and in handcuffs attached in front to a waist chain, the inmate was able to wrestle partial control of the officer’s service weapon, Tetterton said.
The inmate gained control of the gun and fired one shot that struck the ground in a rear parking lot of the facility, he said.
The second officer then shot the inmate who was transported to Shands Jacksonville, Tetterton said.
The inmate underwent emergency surgery and at last report was in critical condition, Tetterton said.
No one else was injured.
Cornell Corrections, a private prison company, holds federal inmates under contract with the Bureau of Prisons.
The Kingsland Police Department and Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating
