Lilburn Man Arrested after shooting a young man for turning into the wrong driveway

Lilburn, Georgia- Phillip Sailers, a 69-year-old man, was arrested after shooting a carload of people that pulled into his driveway on accident. The 22-year-old, Rodgrigo Abad Diaz had pulled into Sailers driveway by a mistake that his GPS made when the group was going to pick up their friend to go ice-skating and started to drive away when Sailers shot Diaz in the head.  There were two other passengers in the car that included a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old. Sailers’ attorney said that he was with his wife and thought that the car had come to invade his home. Sailers felt that he was defending his home and that he had no other intentions beyond that. Sailers and his attorney shared the story very differently than the teens, “He walked toward the vehicle still trying to ascertain what was going on when the vehicle accelerated toward him nearly striking him. That is when the fatal shot was fired.”

The victim’s brother was very confused at Sailers’ actions and stated, “Why wouldn’t you just call 911 and lock yourself inside your home if you are genuinely worried for your safety. You don’t pull out a gun and start shooting then asks questions after. My brother was just trying to turn the car around.”

The Lilburn Police Department released a statement about the incident: “This was an unfortunate and tragic event and our department is in the process of investigating the incident. At this point we have established probable cause to charge Mr. Sailers and when the investigation is complete we will turn over the case file to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office for processing.”

Source: 11Alive News. “Lilburn man claims self-defense in shooting driver.” January 30, 2013.