A 43-year-old Griffin police officer and father of seven was only doing his job when he was shot and killed outside of a Waffle House early this morning while working an off-duty security job in full uniform, his brother said.
Raymond Jordan was there when Griffin police say Michael D. Bowman, 30, shot Officer Kevin Jordan multiple times. Raymond Jordan ultimately shot Bowman, who is in critical but stable condition at Atlanta Medical Center.
"I don't want to be bitter," Raymond Jordan told Channel 2 Action News. "But the only regret I have is that I didn't kill him."
He told the television station that Bowman, Chantell Mixon and Tyler Taylor were drunk when they came to the Waffle House at 1702 North Expressway. He claimed the trio used racial slurs and did not respect his brother, an ex-Marine who had been with the Griffin Police Department for four years.
In a statement, Griffin police only said that Bowman, Mixon and Taylor caused a disturbance and were asked to leave the restaurant around 2:20 a.m. Saturday. An altercation spilled into the parking lot, where Officer Kevin Jordan tried to arrest Mixon, Officer Mike Richardson with the Griffin Police Department said. Mixon is Bowman's 28-year-old girlfriend, according to Channel 2.
Officer Kevin Jordan was on the ground trying to restrain Mixon when police say Bowman "maliciously shot" him multiple times in the back, Richardson said.
Raymond Jordan was in the parking lot when the gunfire erupted and grabbed his own gun, Richardson said. A civilian, he had a permit to carry a gun and was at the restaurant to visit his brother, who often worked there on weekends, police said. Raymond Jordan was not charged Saturday in Bowman's shooting, and police offered no explanation.
Bowman and Mixon were charged with felony murder in Officer Kevin Jordan's shooting death. Authorities also charged Mixon with felony obstruction. A third suspect, 23-year-old Tyler Taylor, was charged with disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear if the three suspects hired attorneys, and several calls to their relatives went unanswered.
Darlene Buhlinger, Bowman's aunt, did speak to Channel 2. She said she was in "disbelief" about what happened. She told the television station that her nephew had a permit to carry a gun but never thought he was capable of shooting anyone.
"That's somebody's son, daddy," she said. "I mean I don't even know what to feel. I'm so sorry for that family."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now probing the shooting. The Griffin Police Department has asked the public to pray for Officer Kevin Jordan's family, who will have to make funeral arrangements just as they were preparing to celebrate the upcoming high school graduation of one of his seven children.
"We are deeply saddened by these events and send our condolences to the family of Officer Jordan," the department said in a statement. "We request that you keep the Jordan family in your prayers and thoughts as well as our local law enforcement community. Officer Jordan will be greatly missed."
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