16-year-old’s lie about cop shooting him unravels thanks to body cam, GA cops say

A 16-year-old boy’s tale of being shot by a pursuing police officer quickly fell apart when body camera footage revealed the officer never fired his gun, according to investigators in southeast Georgia.

An internal investigation has revealed the bullet actually came from a gun tucked in the boy’s pants, so he basically shot himself, the Valdosta Police Department said in an Oct. 6 news release.

The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in a residential neighborhood, and the boy sustained two wounds from the same bullet, police said.

“Citizens called E911 to report that several individuals were in a yard waving guns around. When officers arrived at the scene and began to approach the house, several subjects began to run. One officer was chasing a 16-year-old male, who refused to stop when he was given verbal commands,” police said.

“As they were running, the officer was behind the juvenile when the officer heard a gunshot. The juvenile continued to run, then lay down on the ground, stating that he had been shot. Officers began to take the juvenile into custody when they located a gunshot wound to the front lower part of his torso and into his leg.”

The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment of “non-life-threatening” injuries and an investigation was launched into the origin of the wound, police said.

“The juvenile and a few other people at the scene began to make statements that an officer had shot the juvenile. Supervisors immediately removed the officer from the scene, and Internal Affairs investigators responded due to the allegation,” police said.

A review of the officer’s body camera footage revealed the officer had not fired his gun, police said.

The angle of the wound also raised questions, officials said.

“The angle of the injury was consistent with the juvenile shooting himself with a gun in the front of his pants. When detectives interviewed the juvenile at the hospital with his mother, he finally admitted that he had accidentally shot himself,” police said.

A weapon was found lying near the scene of the shooting, officials said.

Five people, ranging in age from 16 to 20, were arrested during the incident, and four guns were confiscated, including an AR-15 , police said.

“We are extremely lucky that during this chaos of young people running with guns, no one received a more serious injury,” Police Chief Leslie Manahan said in the release.

“Several people falsely accused our officer of shooting the juvenile. ... We will be prosecuting those who made the false statements.”

Valdosta is about a 230-mile drive southeast from Atlanta, near the border with Florida.

This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 9:52 AM with the headline "16-year-old’s lie about cop shooting him unravels thanks to body cam, GA cops say."