GoFundMe supports Wrightsville firefighter after sword attack outside gas station
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office shared a fundraiser for firefighter Chad Wombles, who suffered severe injuries in the late night attack.
WRIGHTSVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office shared a GoFundMe page Wednesday to help a Wrightsville firefighter recovering from a sword attack that left him seriously injured outside a gas station.
According to the fundraiser, “our friend, Chad Wombles, was ambushed by an attacker he had never met while he stood outside of a gas station in his hometown.”
The page says Wombles, who is a firefighter and first responder, “chatted with a childhood friend outside in the cool October air” when “his attacker approached him from behind bearing a sword with the apparent intent to kill him for no reason whatsoever.”
On Monday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation previously said the Wrightsville Police Department requested an investigation after an officer-involved shooting happened around midnight October 27 outside SideTrack convenience store on East College Street in Johnson County.
The GBI said a Wrightsville police officer was talking with a man outside the store when another man, identified as 32-year-old Diamond Daspin Seltzer of Wrightsville, arrived in a vehicle. Investigators said Seltzer got out, walked over and attacked the man with a sword. The officer then got out of his patrol car and shot Seltzer as he continued the attack.
Both Seltzer and the victim were taken to a hospital in Dublin. The GBI said Seltzer later died and that the other man was in stable condition. The case will be turned over to the Dublin Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
Wrightsville Police identified the victim as a local firefighter.
The GoFundMe page identifies the firefighter as Wombles and says the officer who intervened was Wrightsville Police Officer Jay Hood. According to the page, Hood “saved Chad’s life by responding and probably also saved the lives of the two store clerks inside the store which is where the attacker was heading before diverting to assault Chad.”
The page says Wombles’ right hand “was completely severed by his attacker along with the thumb of his left hand.” It adds that “even in the best case scenario, the financial burden of his treatment and recovery process will be tremendous.”
According to the page, Wombles has “always selflessly responded to help his fellow man simply because he made it his duty in life and he was proud to do so.”
The page had raised more than $19,000 as of Wednesday at 6 p.m.
