A police officer was killed and two deputies were seriously wounded in a shooting that also left a suspect dead south of Atlanta, authorities said Friday.
Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer said it happened as the officers were serving an arrest warrant around 11 a.m. at a home in Locust Grove, about 40 miles southeast of Atlanta.
“It all happened inside the residence,” the sheriff said at an afternoon news conference.
He said gunfire erupted as the deputies were trying to take a male suspect into custody on a warrant from the municipal court in Locust Grove. McBrayer wouldn’t say who fired first or give other details about how it happened.
“They talked with the individual and after about 10 minutes of talking with him realized they were going to be making an arrest, and they were going to have issues placing him in custody,” McBrayer said. At that point they called Locust Grove for backup from an officer.
He said they had no reason to believe when they arrived that the suspect would be violent.
“Trying to make an arrest, there was an altercation,” he said.
The two Henry County deputies were veterans, McBrayer said. One had served with the force for 20 years. He said the Locust Grove officer who was killed had been on the force for about five years. Their names were not immediately released.
McBrayer said one deputy was in serious condition and undergoing surgery, and had been hit below the bulletproof vest. The other was in fair condition, and was hit in the vest.
WSB-TV reported two of the law officers were flown away by helicopter while the third was carried by ambulance.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate the shootings. GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said the suspect’s relatives were being notified before his name is released.
Police blocked off multiple entrances of a subdivision not far from an outlet mall. They turned away people who don’t live in the neighborhood.
Yellow police tape cordoned off a section of one home’s front yard. Nearby Locust Grove Elementary School was put on lockdown.
Juankeena Rodgers, 36, lives in the subdivision but police weren’t allowing her to go back home.
“It’s quiet. I’ve never had any issues and I pray I don’t have any, said Rodgers, who has lived there nearly two years.
“It’s scary because you never know who is in your neighborhood.”
