Vonnie Marquise Harris
Interim Vidalia Chief of Police Capt. James Jermon says he is thankful that no officers nor the offender were harmed in an armed robbery and active shooting incident in the Sweet Onion City Wednesday afternoon.
Around 4:02 that afternoon, police responded to Vidalia Pawn Shop on North Street W., in reference to an armed robbery that had just occurred. The employee of the pawn shop said that a man entered the business, brandished two knives and demanded firearms. The suspect took the firearms, ammunition and magazines and fled from the pawnshop. Vidalia Police Department officers confronted the suspect, who has been identified as Vonnie Harris, III, 22, of Vidalia, a short time later near Peachtree Street where Harris fired multiple rounds from a handgun, striking two patrol cruisers. He was taken into custody without further incident at the intersection of Montgomery Street and North Street in Vidalia.
No officers or citizens were injured during the incident. Harris was charged with 5 counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, four counts of aggravated assault, and with armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was booked into the Toombs County Detention Center.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is in charge of this ongoing investigation.