Georgia · Conyers, Rockdale County · Crime & Courts
Conyers, GA AutoZone Shooting on Highway 138: Employee Faces Reckless Conduct Charge, Co-Worker Shot in the Leg
Police say an employee was manipulating a firearm inside an AutoZone on Highway 138 when it discharged, striking a co-worker in the leg Monday afternoon. All five accounts report a reckless conduct charge. Neither person has been named.
Key facts
- What
- A shooting inside a store. Police say an employee was "manipulating a firearm" inside the business when it discharged
- Where
- An AutoZone on Highway 138, Conyers, Rockdale County. WSB-TV places it near Pine Log Road NE. No street number released
- When
- Monday afternoon — "late Monday afternoon," per CBS News Atlanta. That Monday is Aug. 10, 2026
- Killed
- No deaths reported in any account compiled here
- Injured
- One — a co-worker shot in the leg, per FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV
- Condition
- Unknown as of CBS News Atlanta's 10:09 p.m. EDT update on Aug. 10
- Charged
- An AutoZone employee faces a reckless conduct charge, per all five accounts. Not named in any account here
- Presumption
- Charged is not convicted. Nothing here has been proven in court
- Lead agency
- The Conyers Police Department responded to the store — named by all five accounts
- Public threat
- "No ongoing threat to the public," police said, per WSB-TV
- Status
- Bond, counsel, court dates and the injured worker's condition are all not established
- What happened inside the Conyers AutoZone
- Exactly where on Highway 138
- Who was involved, and who we do not name
- What police said about the firearm
- The word "accidental," and who used it
- The injury, and the limits of "the leg"
- What a customer described seeing
- "No ongoing threat to the public"
- The charge, and what a charge is not
- Reckless conduct in Georgia law
- Georgia law on discharging a firearm
- A named business, and what we won't say
- Who investigates a shooting in Conyers
- How to get the incident report
- Hurt at work in Georgia: the basics
- Where our sources differ
- What we don't know yet
- If this is your family
- Frequently asked questions
What happened inside the Conyers AutoZone
A worker was shot in the leg inside an AutoZone on Highway 138 in the Conyers area of Rockdale County on Monday afternoon. Five newsrooms place it there: Atlanta News First, FOX 5 Atlanta, WSB-TV, the Rockdale/Newton Citizen and CBS News Atlanta.
What police described is short and specific. Atlanta News First writes of an employee "who was manipulating a firearm inside the business." WSB-TV: "Police said the employee was 'manipulating a firearm' when it went off." That is the whole mechanism on the record here.
One person was hurt. FOX 5 Atlanta reports the employee "shot a coworker in the leg"; WSB-TV reports the person "was shot in the leg." No death appears in any of the five accounts. All five accounts report that an AutoZone employee is facing a reckless conduct charge — an accusation, and the only charge named here.
On timing: FOX 5 Atlanta says Monday afternoon, CBS News Atlanta "late Monday afternoon." That Monday is Aug. 10, 2026 — the CBS News Atlanta update is timestamped 10:09 p.m. EDT that day. There is no clock time for the shooting.
Exactly where on Highway 138
The road is the one people say: Highway 138. Atlanta News First puts the store at "an AutoZone on Highway 138," FOX 5 Atlanta at "the AutoZone on Highway 138 SE," the Rockdale/Newton Citizen at "the AutoZone on Georgia Highway 138."
WSB-TV is the account here that adds a cross street, placing it "on Highway 138 near the cross street of Pine Log Road NE." CBS News Atlanta locates it by area instead, describing "the AutoZone store on the city's south side." That is a difference in precision, not a contradiction — a store can sit on the south side of Conyers and on Highway 138 at once.
Note that WSB-TV writes NE while FOX 5 Atlanta writes 138 SE. Highways and local streets carry directional labels independently, so this page keeps both as written rather than stitching them into one invented address.
No street number appears here, and we are not estimating one. This page carries no map and no plotted point.
Who was involved, and who we do not name
Neither person is named anywhere in the reporting compiled here — not the employee facing the charge, not the co-worker who was shot.
That is unusual for a story with a charge attached. There is no age, no sex, no city of residence and no job title for either person. One is identified only as an AutoZone employee; the other only as a co-worker.
We are not going to narrow those descriptions. A single store has a small staff. Adding a shift, a role or a physical detail would work like a name without meeting the standard a name requires.
Whether the two knew each other beyond working together is not established here, and neither is anything about why a firearm was being handled.
What police said about the firearm
The phrase carrying this whole story is a short one, and three newsrooms carry it. Atlanta News First: the employee was "manipulating a firearm inside the business." WSB-TV: "Police said the employee was 'manipulating a firearm' when it went off."
Read what that does and does not contain. A firearm was being handled. It discharged. It does not say what kind, who owned it, how it came to be in the store, or where in the building this happened.
"Manipulating" is report language, deliberately neutral — hands on a gun, and nothing past that. Attention: a reader who fills in the rest is supplying detail no agency has released. This page names no caliber, make or distance.
All five accounts credit Conyers police. Atlanta News First and the Rockdale/Newton Citizen name the Conyers Police Department in full; FOX 5 Atlanta, WSB-TV and CBS News Atlanta refer to Conyers police. No account names the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office or the GBI.
The word "accidental," and who used it
The word accidental runs through every account of this story, and it is worth being precise about where it comes from.
All five newsrooms use the word in their body text, not just in a web address. Atlanta News First, FOX 5 Atlanta, WSB-TV, the Rockdale/Newton Citizen and CBS News Atlanta each describe the co-worker as having been shot accidentally, and FOX 5 Atlanta and CBS News Atlanta attribute that characterization to investigators and to police. That is those newsrooms’ framing, sourced to police, checkable against the links below.
What is quoted directly from police is narrower — a firearm being manipulated when it discharged. No charging document and no formal agency ruling on intent has been published here.
The charge points in a direction, and it is worth being exact. Reckless conduct is not an intent-to-injure offense; the statute turns on consciously disregarding a risk, so the count is consistent with a discharge nobody meant to cause. It is not an official ruling that this was an accident. "Accidental" is a characterization; "reckless conduct" is a charge.
The injury, and the limits of "the leg"
One person was hurt: a co-worker, shot in the leg, per FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV. That is the only wound description on the record here.
How badly is not established. CBS News Atlanta, in the update timed 10:09 p.m. EDT on Aug. 10, wrote: "Their condition remains unknown at this time." That is a snapshot of Monday night, and where the public record stops.
"Shot in the leg" is not a synonym for minor. The leg carries the femoral artery, and a wound there can be immediately life-threatening; the same three words also describe a graze treated and released the same evening. That is why this page attaches no adjective — not minor, not serious, not critical. The worker was taken to a hospital, per Atlanta News First and FOX 5 Atlanta; no account names the hospital.
What a customer described seeing
Atlanta News First interviewed a customer, identified as Khemraj Sahadeo, about what he saw at the store. His account, as published: "I see a guy got a mop with a bucket and he's wiping some stuff on the floor; it looked like blood."
Three limits. It is one newsroom's interview, so this page credits Atlanta News First rather than "witnesses" as a group. It describes an aftermath, not the shooting. And he said it "looked like" blood — honest phrasing we keep rather than upgrade.
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"No ongoing threat to the public"
WSB-TV reports: "There is no ongoing threat to the public, police said."
That line matters to a neighborhood, and it should be read for what it is: a statement police made the day of the shooting, carried by WSB-TV and FOX 5 Atlanta. It tells you nobody was being sought at large as of that statement.
It is not a statement about any later day, and not a description of the store's operating status. Whether the store closed, and for how long, is not established here.
The charge, and what a charge is not
Atlanta News First reports that "an AutoZone employee is facing a reckless conduct charge." Note the verb: facing is the language of an accusation being pursued, not of an indictment and not of a conviction.
A charge is an accusation — an assertion by a government agency that an offense occurred and that a particular person committed it, filed early and on what was known at the scene. It is not a verdict, not a finding of fact and not evidence of anything.
The employee is presumed innocent unless and until the State proves the case in a court of law. The burden sits with the State and never shifts. No plea, trial, conviction or judgment appears in the reporting compiled here.
Charging decisions are also not final. The count an agency files and the count a prosecutor presents are two decisions by two offices, and they do not always match. Whether any additional count exists, whether anyone was booked, bond, counsel and court dates are all not established here.
Reckless conduct in Georgia law
Georgia defines reckless conduct at O.C.G.A. § 16-5-60. In general terms it covers a person who causes bodily harm to another, or endangers another's bodily safety, by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk — a gross deviation from the care a reasonable person would use. It is graded a misdemeanor.
Three features explain why it appears so often after an indoor discharge. It requires no intent to injure; the state of mind at issue is disregard of a known risk. It requires no one to be hit, since endangerment alone is covered. And it is a misdemeanor — a grade, not a measure of how the moment felt on that floor. Readers who see "shooting" and "charge" together expect something heavier, so here are the two offenses most often confused. Nothing here suggests another count was filed.
| Reckless conduct | Aggravated assault | |
|---|---|---|
| Statute | O.C.G.A. § 16-5-60 | O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21, built on § 16-5-20 |
| State of mind | Consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk | Assault with an aggravating element, such as a deadly weapon |
| Injury required? | No — endangering bodily safety is enough | No — an assault does not require that a blow land |
| Grade | Misdemeanor | Felony |
| In this story | The charge reported by all five accounts | Not reported here |
The gap between those counts is largely a gap in state of mind. This is a general description of statutes, not legal advice — no charging document has been read here.
Georgia law on discharging a firearm
Georgia has several statutes about firing a gun, and none is the count reported here. They come up constantly in reader questions, so here they are in plain text, with no claim that any applies.
- O.C.G.A. § 16-11-103 — discharging a firearm on or near a public highway or street. A misdemeanor aimed at gunfire in and around public roadways.
- O.C.G.A. § 16-11-104 — discharging a firearm on another person's property without permission. Also a misdemeanor.
- O.C.G.A. § 16-11-106 — possession of a firearm during the commission of certain crimes, an add-on count attaching to specified underlying offenses.
- O.C.G.A. § 16-5-60 — reckless conduct, described above. This is the count all five accounts report.
Only the last of those appears in this story. The others are listed because readers searching "Georgia law shooting inside a store" land on them. Which statutes any prosecutor weighs has not been reported here.
A named business, and what we won't say
AutoZone is named here for one reason: police say the shooting happened inside one of its stores. That is the extent of what the record establishes about the company.
So this page says nothing about its policies, its rules on firearms, its training, its security or any question of legal responsibility. No statement from AutoZone appears in the reporting compiled here, and a business does not get characterized here by inference from its address turning up in a police account.
Attention: the location of an incident is not a finding about its owner. Whether any civil claim, review or employment action follows is not established here.
Who investigates a shooting in Conyers
Rockdale County readers mix these agencies up routinely, and the distinction decides which office holds the file you want.
| Agency | Role | In this story |
|---|---|---|
| Conyers Police Department | City police; handles calls inside the city limits | The agency named here. The Rockdale/Newton Citizen reports it responded to the store on Georgia Highway 138 |
| Rockdale County Sheriff's Office | County law enforcement outside city limits; runs the jail | No role described here. A county sheriff and a city police department are separate agencies |
| Georgia Bureau of Investigation | State investigative agency, generally brought in on request | No role described here. No officer-involved shooting appears in any account |
| Georgia State Patrol | State troopers, principally highway enforcement | No role described here. This was not a traffic incident |
| District attorney | Presents felony cases; a solicitor-general commonly handles misdemeanors | No prosecutor is named here, and no decision beyond the count reported Monday |
| State Board of Workers' Compensation | Administers Georgia's workers' compensation system | No role described here. Listed because a worker was hurt on the job |
Conyers police, Rockdale County deputies and the GBI are not interchangeable. Where an account says "police," we leave it as "police."
How to get the incident report
The agency that holds a report is the agency that wrote it. The Rockdale/Newton Citizen reports the Conyers Police Department responded, so that department is where a request goes — not the sheriff's office, not the GBI, not a court clerk.
Requests are made under the Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 and following. An agency generally must respond within three business days — produce records, state a cost, or explain a withholding. That is not the file landing on your desk.
Records of a pending investigation are commonly withheld. The exemption at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(4) covers pending investigations and prosecutions, with the initial incident report generally treated as disclosable. In practice the front page is the realistic ask while a case is open; the narrative, witness statements and any video usually are not. Expect redactions.
We are not publishing an address, e-mail, portal link or fee schedule for the department, because we have not verified one for this page. Guessing at a records contact is how a request disappears.
Hurt at work in Georgia: the basics
One fact here has a separate legal system behind it: the person shot was at work. What follows is general Georgia information, not advice about this case.
Georgia's workers' compensation law is codified in Title 34, Chapter 9 of the Georgia Code and administered by the State Board of Workers' Compensation. It is a no-fault system: an employee injured in an accident arising out of and in the course of employment is generally covered without proving employer fault, and in exchange it is ordinarily the exclusive remedy against that employer.
Two deadlines drive nearly every question about it. Notice to the employer is required promptly — O.C.G.A. § 34-9-80 sets 30 days. And a claim filed with the State Board generally must come within one year of the accident, under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-82. Those dates quietly end more claims than any argument does.
Whether a shooting by a co-worker satisfies the "arising out of employment" test is a contested area of law, and the answer turns on facts that, here, are not established. A criminal case and a benefits claim also run on separate tracks.
Where our sources differ
We publish disagreements rather than picking a winner. Here there is no head-on contradiction — the differences are about how much each account included. "Not stated" means the point does not appear in what we compiled from that outlet, a statement about our compilation and nothing more.
| Point | Atlanta News First | FOX 5 Atlanta | WSB-TV | Rockdale/Newton Citizen | CBS News Atlanta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | "Highway 138" | "Highway 138 SE" | Highway 138 near Pine Log Road NE | "Georgia Highway 138" | "The city's south side" |
| The mechanism | "Manipulating a firearm inside the business" | Handling a firearm | "Manipulating a firearm" when it went off | "Manipulating a firearm inside the business" | Handling a firearm inside the store |
| The injury | Shot "in the leg" | "Shot a coworker in the leg" | "The person was shot in the leg" | Taken for medical care; no wound location | Not stated |
| The charge | "Reckless conduct charge" | Reckless conduct | Reckless conduct | Charged with reckless conduct | Reckless conduct |
| When | Monday | "Monday afternoon" | Monday | Monday, Aug. 10, 2026 | "Late Monday afternoon" |
| Condition | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | "Condition remains unknown" (10:09 p.m. EDT, Aug. 10) |
| Public threat | Not stated | No ongoing threat to the public | "No ongoing threat to the public" | Not stated | Not stated |
| Agency named | Conyers Police Department | Conyers police | Conyers police | Conyers Police Department | Conyers police |
| Witness | Khemraj Sahadeo | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
Read down the charge row and the agency row. Both are carried by all five newsrooms, which is as solid as this record gets. The single-outlet items here are the cross street, the customer’s account and the condition note.
What we don't know yet
- Either person's name, age or place of residence.
- The injured worker's condition. Unknown as of CBS News Atlanta's 10:09 p.m. update on Aug. 10.
- The time of day, to the minute. "Late Monday afternoon" is as fine as the record gets.
- Whose firearm it was, what type it was, and why it was in the store.
- Where inside the store the discharge happened, and whether customers were nearby.
- Whether anyone was booked, and into which facility. The Rockdale/Newton Citizen’s headline says an employee was arrested; its body says only that the employee was charged.
- Whether bond has been set, and whether the person has an attorney.
- Any court date, and whether any additional charge was filed.
- Anything AutoZone has said, and whether the store closed.
None of that is filled in by inference. A blank stays a blank here, and this page does not revisit itself later to close one.
If this is your family
Most people reading a page like this are not strangers to it — a spouse waiting on a call, a parent who knows which store, a co-worker who was two aisles away.
The answers sit in separate offices on separate clocks. A police department holds the incident file. A hospital holds a record it will not discuss outside a narrow circle. A prosecutor holds a decision not yet made. None moves on a family's schedule, and material tied to an open investigation is commonly withheld until the case closes.
The Local Alert is not a law enforcement agency and not a law firm. We cannot tell you what a claim is worth or what to sign. What we can do is show which office holds which record, and stop where the record stops.
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Frequently asked questions
What happened at the AutoZone in Conyers, Georgia?
Police say an employee was manipulating a firearm inside the business when it discharged, per Atlanta News First and WSB-TV. FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV report a co-worker was shot in the leg. All five accounts report a reckless conduct charge.
Where exactly did the Conyers AutoZone shooting happen?
At an AutoZone on Highway 138. Atlanta News First and the Rockdale/Newton Citizen give it as Highway 138, FOX 5 Atlanta as Highway 138 SE, and CBS News Atlanta as the store on the city's south side. WSB-TV adds a cross street: near Pine Log Road NE. No street number appears here.
When did the Conyers AutoZone shooting happen?
Monday afternoon, per FOX 5 Atlanta, and late Monday afternoon, per CBS News Atlanta. That Monday is Aug. 10, 2026: the CBS News Atlanta update carries a timestamp of 10:09 p.m. EDT that day. No clock time for the shooting itself appears here.
Was anyone killed in the Conyers AutoZone shooting?
No death is reported in any of the five accounts compiled here. One person was hurt: a co-worker shot in the leg, per FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV.
How badly was the co-worker hurt?
Not established. CBS News Atlanta, in an update timed 10:09 p.m. EDT on Aug. 10, 2026, wrote that the person's condition remained unknown at that time. A leg wound can be minor or life-threatening, and we attach no severity nobody has stated.
Who was involved in the Conyers AutoZone shooting?
Neither person is named. No name, age or job title for the employee who fired or for the injured co-worker appears in any of the five accounts compiled here. The Local Alert does not guess at a name, and does not narrow a description until a small group of co-workers becomes identifiable.
What is the AutoZone employee charged with?
Atlanta News First reports the employee is facing a reckless conduct charge — the only charge named in the reporting compiled here. Whether any other count was filed, and what a prosecutor eventually presents, are not established.
What is reckless conduct under Georgia law?
Reckless conduct is defined at O.C.G.A. section 16-5-60. In general terms it covers causing bodily harm to another person, or endangering another person's bodily safety, by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk. It is a misdemeanor. That is a general description of a statute, not legal advice.
Was the Conyers AutoZone shooting an accident?
That word is a characterization, and it belongs to the newsrooms that used it. All five accounts linked below describe the shooting as accidental in their body text, and FOX 5 Atlanta and CBS News Atlanta attribute that to investigators and to police. What is quoted directly from police is narrower: a firearm being manipulated when it discharged. No charging document or formal agency ruling on intent has been published here.
Has anyone been convicted in the Conyers AutoZone shooting?
No. A charge is an accusation, not a verdict. The employee is presumed innocent unless and until the State proves the case in court. No plea, trial or judgment appears in the reporting compiled here, and nothing on this page is a finding of guilt.
Which police agency is investigating the Conyers AutoZone shooting?
Atlanta News First and the Rockdale/Newton Citizen name the Conyers Police Department in full, and FOX 5 Atlanta, WSB-TV and CBS News Atlanta refer to Conyers police. Conyers police are a city department — not the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office and not the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and no role for either agency appears here.
Is there still a threat to the public at the Conyers AutoZone?
WSB-TV and FOX 5 Atlanta report that there is no ongoing threat to the public, police said. That is a statement police made on the day of the shooting. It is not a promise about any later day.
How do I get a copy of the incident report?
From the agency that wrote it — the Rockdale/Newton Citizen reports the Conyers Police Department responded. Requests are made under Georgia's Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. section 50-18-70 and following. We are not publishing a records address or fee schedule we have not verified.
What has AutoZone said about the shooting?
No statement from AutoZone appears in the reporting compiled here. The company is named only as the location where police say the shooting happened. The Local Alert is not characterizing its policies, training, firearm rules or any question of responsibility.
Sources
- Atlanta News First — the AutoZone on Highway 138; the employee "manipulating a firearm inside the business"; the reckless conduct charge; the customer Khemraj Sahadeo on a mop and what "looked like blood"
- FOX 5 Atlanta — the AutoZone on Highway 138 SE; the employee who "shot a coworker in the leg"; Monday afternoon
- WSB-TV — Highway 138 near the cross street of Pine Log Road NE; the person shot in the leg; police saying the employee was "manipulating a firearm" when it went off; "no ongoing threat to the public"
- Rockdale/Newton Citizen — the AutoZone on Georgia Highway 138; the Conyers Police Department responding to the store
- CBS News Atlanta — the store on the city's south side; "late Monday afternoon"; the 10:09 p.m. EDT Aug. 10, 2026 update reporting "their condition remains unknown at this time"
- Aug. 12, 12:20 p.m. — Story published. Police say an employee was manipulating a firearm inside an AutoZone on Highway 138 in Conyers when it discharged, shooting a co-worker in the leg Monday afternoon, Aug. 10. Atlanta News First reports a reckless conduct charge; the Rockdale/Newton Citizen names the Conyers Police Department; WSB-TV reports police said there is no ongoing threat to the public. Neither person is named in any account compiled here.
Compiled by The Local Alert Georgia Staff from five named outlets — Atlanta News First, FOX 5 Atlanta, WSB-TV, the Rockdale/Newton Citizen and CBS News Atlanta — each linked above. The charge and the responding agency are reported by all five outlets. The cross street, the customer’s account and the condition note each rest on a single outlet, and this page says which. The person facing the reckless conduct charge is not named in any account, is charged rather than convicted, and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Statutes are described in general terms; nothing here is legal advice.
Related Georgia coverage
Other incidents we are tracking across the state this week.
Conyers: lockdowns lifted at two Rockdale County high schools
Newnan: girl, 14, escapes Highway 154 standoff; man charged
More Georgia crime and courts coverage
Reported and fact-checked as of .
Every source linked on this page was opened and verified at that time. The Local Alert compiles what each named outlet reported and shows you which outlet reported what. This page is a record of what was known and confirmed at that moment — it is not updated automatically as the story develops. For the current status of an active investigation, contact the agency named above.
See something wrong on this page?
We report from named outlets and public records, and every fact here is linked to its source. If something is inaccurate — a name, a road, an agency, a number — tell us and we will correct it and note the correction on this page.