Georgia shooter freed because deputy said ‘police’ only after he was shot 

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More than year after police vowed to hold a gunman accountable for shooting a Fulton County Sheriff’s deputy, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) has closed the case without charging anyone.

While APD investigators said surveillance video of the shooting drove their decision to close the case, the department has repeatedly refused to allow the public to see it.

But Atlanta News First Investigates has obtained that video for a source inside the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. It shows a different series of events from the accounts given to the public on April 24, 2025.

Deputy Evens Lafond was shot in the leg after he chased down a unhoused man suspected of making threats downtown.

Lafond was working a detail in plain clothes when he responded to the call in his assigned car, an undercover Honda with concealed police lights.

Surveillance video shows the Honda — without lights or sirens activated — jumping a curb on Forsyth Street near Trinity Avenue.

Lafond, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, jumped out and drew his gun, according to the video. The suspect had run out of frame. Also out of view was the suspect’s brother, Ivan Watson, who was a passenger in a car nearby.

APD investigators determined Watson fired a total of 12 rounds in Lafond’s direction, with only one bullet hitting the deputy in the lower left leg.

Lafond denied firing his weapon in a written statement obtained from the sheriff’s office by Atlanta News First Investigates. APD investigators determined otherwise.

A dozen .40-caliber shell casings were found close to the spot where Watson told investigators he had fired his handgun (an earlier version of this article mentioned a Glock Model 26, which is what Watson told investigators he had. The Glock 26 is a 9mm handgun, not a .40 S&W. The firearm from the shooting was never recovered after Watson told police he had thrown it in the woods). A single 9-millimeter shell casing was found on the sidewalk next to Lafond’s car.

“Video evidence shows Sheriff Officer Evans [SIC] Lafond not identifying himself as a police officer to Mr. Watson before firing his weapon,” investigators concluded when closing he case in May of last year.