By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — The head of Atlanta’s firefighters union Thursday defended emergency workers called to a fatal armed robbery earlier this month, saying they walked away after a short look at the victim because it was obvious he was dead.
Surveillance video at the Moreland Package Store, which was robbed Dec. 4, showed two paramedics and a firefighter briefly looking over a counter, presumably at Martez McKibben, and then walking away, angering his family and raising accusations that mistakes were made.
The Atlanta Fire Department is conducting an internal investigation and had no comment on what appeared to be a lack of interest on the parts of the first responders.
But Lt. Jim Daws, president of the Atlanta Professional Firefighters union, said rescuers did not try to treat McKibben because he had “wounds [that] were of such catastrophic nature as not to be survivable.”
Also, Daws said, police had asked the rescue team to leave as soon as it could so the crime scene could be preserved.
“While our hearts go out to the McKibben family, the responding firefighters’ conduct was entirely appropriate,” Daws said in a statement.
“Mr. McKibben had suffered .40 caliber gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back that were obviously fatal. The fire crew conducted a visual patient assessment, preserved the integrity of the crime scene and removed themselves from a hazard presented by the continued presence of the murder weapon and possible return by the perpetrator.”
“There was nothing more that could be done” for the 21-year-old McKibben, Daws said.
McKibben was working behind the counter at the liquor store on Moreland Avenue when two men came in just before 10 p.m. Police said Terrone Anthony, 19, pulled a gun, demanded money and then shot McKibben.
Store owner Shaun Yu came from the back of the store and shot the gunman in the arm and leg, police said.
Anthony was arrested a block from the store.
A second suspect, 19-year-old Aaron Jackson, was arrested last Friday.
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution