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GROVETOWN, GA — A 26-year-old man shot his older brother in the upper leg Friday afternoon after repeated warnings and a round fired into the floor failed to stop an attack that had already injured their mother and his 4-year-old daughter, according to the Grovetown Police Department.

The call came in at about 3:36 p.m. on Friday, as reported by WRDW. Officers arrived at a home on Lory Lane and found Matthew Simmons, 34, with a gunshot wound to the upper leg. They put a tourniquet on him and started first aid until Grovetown Fire Department personnel and EMS arrived.

Police say the preliminary investigation shows Matthew Simmons began physically assaulting his brother, D’Andre Simmons, 26, inside the residence without provocation. Their mother, Tonya Simmons, 55, tried to intervene and he struck her too. D’Andre Simmons’ 4-year-old daughter was in the same room and was hit as well, leaving a small laceration on her arm.

D’Andre Simmons retrieved his handgun during the attack, police say. He gave multiple warnings to stop. He fired a shot into the floor. His brother kept punching. He then fired a round that struck Matthew Simmons in the upper leg. Even with a bullet in his leg, Matthew Simmons kept striking his brother before he finally stopped.

I do not recommend warning shots, and I say that knowing police describe this one as part of a string of warnings that went ignored. Every round has to land somewhere. A bullet fired into the floor of an occupied home can skip, penetrate, or fragment, and there was a 55-year-old woman and a 4-year-old in that room. The warning shot also spent time and ammunition while the attack continued. If the situation justifies pulling the trigger, it justifies aiming at the threat.

Matthew Simmons kept hitting his brother after taking a round to the leg. A handgun wound does not switch a person off, and one round is not a guarantee of anything. You shoot to stop the threat, and you keep working the problem until it actually stops. That is a mindset point, not a gear point.

Deadly force is justified only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, and an unarmed attacker can present that threat. Whether he does depends on the specific facts. What the department describes is a man who kept swinging through repeated verbal warnings, through a shot into the floor, and through a gunshot wound to his own leg, in a room with a child who was already bleeding. Police have not announced a formal self-defense determination, and prosecutors will have the final say on charges, but the department says no charges are currently anticipated against D’Andre Simmons.

D’Andre Simmons dialed 911 and stayed on the line until officers arrived. That put his account on the record within minutes and gave investigators a cooperative witness at the scene instead of a shooter they had to go find.

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Matthew Simmons was stabilized by Grovetown Fire Department personnel and taken by Gold Cross EMS to a local hospital. Tonya Simmons and the child were checked and treated at the scene.

Police say charges are pending against Matthew Simmons and he will be taken into custody when he is released from the hospital. Those charges are allegations, and he has not been convicted of anything.