ATLANTA --
The man accused of gunning down a Chattahoochee Hills police officer pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Robert Cook, 44, faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering Lt. Michael Vogt in February. Investigators said Vogt was on a dirt road investigating a suspicious vehicle when Cook fired a high-powered rifle at Vogt, killing him.
“It’s hard being in the same room with someone who committed such a crime,” said Chattahoochee Hills Police Chief Damon Jones.
Lt. Jamie Melton shared an office with Vogt.
“Mike was very knowledgeable,” said Melton. “He spent a lot of years in law enforcement. As myself, he had a narcotics background. And we’d talk about that. I told Mike’s mother the day of the funeral, I said, ‘Mike and I would sit and argue about things.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s Mike.’”
Jones said Vogt’s death has changed officers’ perspective about their jobs. “ To say it hasn’t would not be true,” Jones said. “It is a very quiet, peaceful, nice place to live, but it certainly heightened the alertness of all the officers that work in Chattahoochee Hills.”
Cook’s trial could be long and drawn out, but the officers said they plan to attend as many hearings as possible.
“We want to let the courts know that we’re there. It’s not just something that just happened and we go on about our lives. This will affect us the rest of our lives,” said Melton.
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