Jackson County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a man after he threw a lighted gasoline can at them
during a domestic dispute call Sunday.

The sheriff’s office received a call at 12:20 a.m. about a disturbance at a home in the 1300 block of Lewis Sailors Road near Jefferson.

The wife of Kenneth Dwayne Martin, 50, of Jefferson, told deputies that he “had poured gas on her and in and around the home, and had threatened to burn her and the home up,” Chief Deputy Maj. David Cochran said Monday.

Deputies “entered the home to arrest the suspect and were confronted by (Martin), armed with a weapon pointed at the deputies,” Cochran said.

“The suspect was sprayed with (pepper spray) and he dropped the weapon, which turned out to be a BB rifle.”

Martin then got a gas can and set it on fire, throwing it at the
deputies and “igniting the room that the deputies were in,” Cochran said.

“At that point, the suspect was shot several times and killed,” he added.

As is standard procedure, the deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave while the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reviews the incident.

None of the officers were injured, other than minor “scrapes and bruises,” Cochran said.

The man’s wife is OK and has found shelter since the incident.

“There’s going to have to be some repair done to the home because the room that caught on fire was pretty extensively damaged,” Cochran said.

As for Martin, he had been convicted in 2007 of aggravated assault “against the same victim,” Cochran said.

He was placed on probation for nine years and eight months, sentenced to 120 days in jail and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and to seek anger management classes.