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Michael Dewayne Bell

Age : 37

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/08/2025

Location : Houston County Galleria parking lot, near Crunch Fitness

City : Centerville

County : Houston

State : Georgia

Agency : Centerville Police Department; Warner Robins Police Department; Byron Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during armed standoff

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/08/2025, at approximately 3:45 a.m., officers from the Centerville Police Department, Warner Robins Police Department and Byron Police Department located 37-year-old Michael Dwayne Bell of Fitzgerald inside a semi-truck parked near Crunch Fitness in the Houston County Galleria parking lot in Centerville. Police had been attempting to locate Bell in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident that had occurred earlier in Byron, in neighboring Peach County.
Officers approached the semi-truck and told Bell that he was under arrest. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Bell remained inside the truck while officers attempted to enter it. The GBI alleged that Bell then fired a gun from inside the cab, striking and wounding a Warner Robins Police Department officer. Multiple officers returned fire into the semi-truck before withdrawing and establishing a perimeter around it.
Police then treated the encounter as an armed barricade and requested SWAT assistance. Officers attempted to communicate with Bell but received no response. The standoff continued for approximately two and a half hours. At approximately 6:20 a.m., officers entered the semi-truck and found Bell dead inside. The wounded Warner Robins officer was transported to Atrium Health Navicent Medical Center in Macon and survived.
The initial investigation did not immediately establish whether the gunshot wound that killed Bell came from police gunfire or was self-inflicted. The Houston County coroner pronounced Bell dead at the scene and sent his body to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy. Police acknowledged that officers had fired into Bell's truck before the standoff, while the GBI retained responsibility for determining the source of the fatal gunfire.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened an independent investigation at the request of the Warner Robins and Centerville police departments. The GBI stated that its completed investigative file would be submitted to the Houston County District Attorney's Office for review.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://apnews.com/article/ca3bf6201d90381f02abc50fb2af78b9
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/warner-robins-police-officer-shot-centerville-galleria/93-91f8ef5b-3dc0-43ff-bc24-15892d372e05
https://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article291113339.html