ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Albany Police Chief Michael Persley sat down with WALB Thursday, June 11, to address the department’s “person of interest” process following the retaliatory shooting at a grandmother’s home.

The interview comes after community members raised concerns about APD’s practice of publicly naming persons of interest on social media and whether that practice puts innocent bystanders at risk.

On June 6, multiple rounds of gunfire struck an Albany grandmother’s home, just three days after her family received a direct threat, according to an incident report. The address and the victims’ names will not be disclosed due to the nature of the report.

The family reported the shooting was an act of retaliation after APD posted a family member’s photo on social media as a person of interest in connection with the June 1 murder of 21-year-old Brandon Jones near a Family Dollar on North Slappey Boulevard in Albany.

All individuals publicly named as persons of interest in Jones’ murder were later cleared and deemed not connected to the incident, according to a social media post by APD.

The department is now asking the public for new information in the Family Dollar case. APD said no suspects have been identified in the Family Dollar shooting. WALB is working to confirm whether there are any suspects in the shooting at the grandmother’s home.

What Chief Persley said

WALB asked Persley whether he sees a direct connection between APD posting the grandson’s photo and the subsequent threat and shooting at the grandmother’s home.

“We don’t know. We honestly don’t know. There’s an assumption out there. But the thing that we don’t know is what all happened outside of anything that we’ve done prior to the investigation,” Persley said.

WALB also asked whether APD’s process for publicly naming persons of interest changes when gang activity is suspected in a case.

“No. A case is a case. And you have victims involved in that case,” he responded. “Whatever means we need to find out who the people were who were responsible for that crime, then we’ll use it. Now, it’s unfortunate — highly unfortunate — for that situation to happen."

When asked whether there are any pitfalls to posting persons of interest on social media, Persley acknowledged there are.

“I’m sure there are. It’s always a pitfall when people go to assumptions without asking questions or understanding the context of what happened,” he said.

Persley also addressed community members who say being publicly named, and later cleared, damaged their reputations.

“When we don’t talk about the actual issues that are really affecting our young population in the community, and we don’t really have these honest conversations, then we’re going to have more people who end up in jail, more people who are in the grave, and more families that are broken,” Persley said.

On the question of whether APD’s process follows a formal, structured policy, Persley was straightforward.

“It’s not a clean process. There isn’t a simple or a standard policy. It’s just a process that we use of how we can best find out what happened in the course of an investigation,” he said.

Persley also clarified what it means when APD says a person of interest has been “cleared.”

“Cleared means we talked to them. They’re no longer a person of interest. We talked to them. Now, does that mean that we’re done with the investigation on them? No,” Persley said.

The chief closed by defending the department’s intent.

“We’re not trying to ruin reputations. We’re not trying to put people in harm’s way. We’re trying to solve crimes. And when we don’t have the crimes to solve, then we won’t have to worry about these things,” Persley said.

Community members have questioned whether APD’s process for publicly naming persons of interest damages the reputations of individuals who are ultimately cleared and whether it can place uninvolved family members in physical danger.

APD is asking anyone with information in either case to call the department at 229-733-0715 or 229-302-0756, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 229-436-TIPS.

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