District Attorney Keith Higgins announced today that he would not pursue a criminal prosecution with regard to an incident between a Camden County Sheriff’s Deputy and Christopher Paul Raborn.
On Friday, December 10, 2021, Camden County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) personnel were at a residence in Waverly, GA, for the purpose of executing a bench warrant for the arrest of Christopher Raborn. Upon arrival at the residence, Raborn’s mother answered the door and deputies informed her that they needed to speak with her son and informed her that they had a warrant for his arrest. The deputies asked if they could enter the residence to see if Raborn was there and then entered to look for Raborn.
After entering the residence, Investigator Nathan Daniel went into Raborn’s bedroom. At that time, Deputy Daniel caught a glimpse of movement to his left, where Raborn was standing in the corner of the room behind the door holding a gun. Deputy Daniel immediately turned and grabbed the pistol with his left hand and pinned it to the wall and simultaneously pushed his entire body weight into Raborn’s body to pin it to the wall, while he un-holstered his service weapon and began yelling at Raborn to drop his gun. Raborn’s mother had also entered the room behind Investigator Daniel and was also pleading with Raborn to drop the gun. After several minutes of wrestling around and pleading with Raborn to drop his weapon, Raborn tightened his grip on the gun and attempted to turn it towards Daniel. At that time, Investigator Daniel pushed away from Raborn, and fired his weapon two times, striking Raborn in the chest and head.
DA Higgins met privately with members of the family and with select community leaders today to announce his decision. DA Higgins expressed his condolences, stating, “Law enforcement personnel do their jobs daily never knowing when they will come across an individual who may decide to do harm to themselves or to others. While any loss of life is always tragic, the officer’s use of force in this instance was justified to protect his life and potentially the lives of others in the residence.”
A redacted version of the investigative case file will be placed on the District Attorney’s Office website at www.brunswickda.org, to provide transparency on certain community-interest cases. The redacted investigative file will not contain any personal identifying information or graphic images.
Members of the media with further questions may contact the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office at 912-554-7200.
