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HIGH POINT — High Point’s police chief defended his officers Wednesday, countering what he called “irresponsible rumors” surrounding the killing of a robbery suspect Monday night.

“We have heard rumors that the suspect was unarmed,” Chief Jim Fealy said at a meeting of the group, High Point Community Against Violence. “Not true. A lie. We have also heard that he was shot in the back. Not true. A lie.”

Police said Jeremy Antonio Mills, 21, was one of three men who robbed a home at 621 Clover Drive at gunpoint. Mills didn’t respond to commands and threatened officers with a handgun, police said. The officers shot and killed Mills.

Fealy stressed that there wasn’t much he could say while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting.

But the chief said he is confident the officers, whom the SBI identified as K.H. Kish and C.C. Wolf, were justified in their actions. Both were put on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

Shortly after the shooting, police arrested Charles Lamont Garrison, 30, of 1700 Brooks Ave. He faces charges of first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping.

Police said Garrison was armed. He remains in the Guilford County jail in High Point on a $122,000 bond.

Police are still looking for Ernest Darrell Roberts, 20, in connection with the robbery.

Neighbors said they want to see criminals arrested but don’t always trust the police version of shootings. Some said they’d heard the police had planted a shotgun near Mills’ body, a rumor Fealy called ridiculous.

Early reports said Mills had a shotgun, but police said Wednesday that he carried a handgun.

“I’m not saying I know what happened,” said Marla Daniels, 36, a mother of two who lives near the scene of the shooting. “I’m just saying that the police don’t always tell you the whole story. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about what happened, and you just don’t know what to believe.”

Daniels said the neighborhood, once safe and solidly middle-class, has gone downhill as the economy turned and jobs left the area. Once dominated by families who owned their homes, many of the houses are now rentals or empty altogether.

High Point Councilman Mike Pugh said he attended a community meeting over the weekend where he talked to a lot of people frustrated with what crime and drugs have done to their neighborhoods.

“There’s a church that’s had their air conditioners stolen twice. There are people who have been robbed multiple times,” Pugh said. “There are people out there who are so upset that they’re inquiring about carrying guns. They feel like they have to tie things down to keep them from being stolen.”

The house where the shooting took place was empty Wednesday.

Neighbors stopped outside to look at the crime scene and talk about what they’d heard. James Finch, 60, said he hates to see another empty house.

“Not everybody wants to leave,” he said. “But when you see things like this shooting and these robberies, you think about it.”

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com