Sheriff’s investigators tell News Channel 6 they saw the men come out of a home on the 2500 block of Wheeler Road, near Fleming Avenue just before midnight Tuesday. Deputies are still looking for two of the men, while news of the chase is spreading fast among the national's neighbors.
Judy Downs lives about as close to the Augusta National Golf Club as you can get. Rae's creek runs right through her back yard, but deputies say the creek wasn't the only thing running through the golf course Tuesday night. Downs says, “You love to hear the crowds cheer when you’re this close to the golf course, things like that. You don’t really care to hear about people running across with police chasing them.
Richmond County Sheriff's investigators News Channel 6, Justice Ellison and two other men were running from officers when they cut through a cemetery, jumped a fence, and used the golf course as an escape route.
Deputies searched for hours, and set up a perimeter around the national. They say they spotted the men several times on the property but all three made it out. Investigators eventually got a tip that Ellison was at a house on Central Avenue, were police showed up and arrested him.
He now faces charges of burglary, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of an illegal weapon. While investigators say it's not very common people break into the course it does happen.
Probably the most famous case of this was back in October of 1983 when Charlie Harris drove his Dodge pickup through a locked gate at the club, and demanded to talk to President Ronald Reagan, who was in the middle of playing the 16th hole.
Even though it happens Downs says, there is still nothing like living next door to one of the world's greatest courses. Downs says, “its fun. You hear everything that goes on, like the helicopters in the air. People come by to try and see if they can get a view of the Augusta National, which they can’t.”
Investigators says Ellis during the chase injuring his face and dropping a sawed off shotgun. A police incident report list two cell phones as the only things taken from the home. Richmond County deputies are currently chasing two subjects after they were found behind a building on the 2500 block of Wheeler Road just before midnight.
Dispatch tells WJBF News Channel 6, when the deputies pulled up to the building the two subjects ran. The subjects are possible home invasion suspects and may be armed with guns.
Richmond County deputies then notified security at Augusta National Golf Club that they would be in the area searching for the subjects, when security at Augusta National Golf Club notified deputies they were also searching for subjects. It is unknown at this time if the two chases are related, we have a crew on the scene and will bring you more information as it becomes available.