‘I was very disappointed’: councilman faces terroristic threat charges

A Fort Valley city council member faces multiple charges after a woman says he threatened to shoot her at a laundromat this month.

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — A Fort Valley city council member faces multiple charges after a woman says he threatened to shoot her at a laundromat this month.

Police arrested Councilman Jimmy Barnes on Monday, July 12, nine days after an incident at Highway 49 Coin Laundry. During which, a woman says she witnessed the councilman outside the laundromat talking to a group of men.

The woman told deputies that Barnes pointed at her, and then called her a racial slur. She says Barnes also told her that he was going to shoot her. The report says the woman proceeded to slap Barnes.

We reached out to Sheriff Terry Deese to see if he could provide more context. However, Deese said he was out of town, and that there were no updates at the time.

We spoke with a local resident on Tuesday, and she says she was shocked at the accusation. “I was very disappointed to hear that one of our council members behaved the way that they were saying he had behaved,” Edwina Nottingham Harris said. “I thought it was very disgusting.”

We also reached out to Barnes, and haven’t heard back.