Duzten Smith

Name:
Smith, Duzten Alonthe

Date of Booking:
11/09/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
CARRYING A CONCEALED WEAPON

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

On November 9, 2025, I, Deputy Dylan Shillingburg, responded to Brewton Baptist Curch at 475 South Peachtree Road in reference to a suspicious male on the property with a firearm.

The initial dispatch said there was a black male sitting on the property of the church with a green jacket, and a red backpack, and the deacons of the church were going to check on him. While en route, dispatch advised me that church members made contact with him and the male had a rifle on him. Dispatch then advised me that the deacons had gotten the firearm and the back pack off of the male, and had him at gunpoint.

Upon my arrival, I met with the deacons as well as the offender, later identified as Durten Smith, behind the church under a pavilion. The deacons had the male on his knees, with his hands on his head, holding him at gunpoint. I made contact with the male, placed him in handcuffs, double locked to the rear of his person, and searched him for other weapons. I then secured Smith in the rear of my patrol car while I interviewed church members to gather their testimonies. Sergeant Blankenship secured the firearm which was placed on a picnic table nearby.

[WITNESS #1], the Chairman of Deacons, stated he and other church members made contact with the male. [WITNESS #1] stated they asked him what he was doing, and he gave multiple different stories of why he was there. [WITNESS #1] said they asked if he had any weapons on him and he stated multiple times he did not. [WITNESS #1] said they asked him to raise the back of his shirt to check his waistband for weapons. [WITNESS #1] said he did so and they did not see any weapons.

[WITNESS #1] said they asked him to pull his pants up because they could see his underwear, and when he pulled his pants up, they saw the bulge of what he said appeared to be a rifle in his front waistband. [WITNESS #1] said that is when they held him at gunpoint and secured his weapon and backpack. Other Deacons, including [REDACTED] and [WITNESS #2]. [WITNESS #1] later contacted me while at the Sheriff’s Office and said Durten was on his phone while sitting under the pavilion.

[WITNESS #2] is the member that took the gun off of Durten Smith. [WITNESS #2] told Sgt. Blankenship that the gun was loaded, with one in the chamber. While processing the firearm into evidence, I counted 36 live ammunition rounds inside of the magazine. The barrel on the AR style pistol was measured to be 8 inches long.

I then asked Durten why he was at the church, and he said his girlfriend, [REDACTED], dropped him off at the church because her brother called and was about to be home. Durten said he and his girlfriend were at her house and he had to leave because her family did not know they were together.

I asked Durten about the gun he had in his possession and he stated he only had it to show to [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] then arrived back at the church. I made contact with [REDACTED] and she stated she dropped Durten off and was coming back to pick him up. At first, [REDACTED] said she did not know anything about the gun, but later stated Durten had showed her the gun the night before.

Durten and [REDACTED] both were served with Demand to Leave the Property forms for Brewton Baptist Church. The trespass order was explained and understood by both Durten and [REDACTED]. Durten was placed under arrest for Unlawful Carry of a Firearm, and was transported to the LEC without further incident where he was turned over to jail staff. Durten’s phone was seized and placed into evidence and turned over to Investigations.

[End of Narrative]