Elderly Athens woman hospitalized after gun incident

By Joe Johnson

A 76-year-old woman was hospitalized Sunday afternoon after police were dispatched to her home on Burkland Drive to investigate a report that she was shooting a gun in her yard.

After officers secured a perimeter around the property they used a PA system to convince the woman to come out of her house without the gun.

It’s believed that the woman had fired off four rounds.

She gave no explanation for why she had shown the gun. However, a family member arrived the the scene and gave a reason for the behavior, which was redacted from a police report for reasons of medical privacy. He also retrieved the .22-caliber revolver and gave it to police.

The woman was transported to Piedmont Athens Medical Center.