Three Atlanta police officers who responded to a call Saturday evening about a gunman were shot and wounded, authorities said. The suspect died during the encounter.
The situation unfolded around 5:15 p.m. local time when officers were dispatched to a 911 call in Atlanta's Capitol View neighborhood for “a man armed with a weapon that the caller believed to be a threat to the community,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. journalists at a press conference.
Officers arrived at the scene to find a suspect armed with a handgun and a knife, Schierbaum said.
“During that encounter, there was a struggle, shots were fired that injured three of our officers,” Schierbaum said. “It also resulted in the death of the individual who was armed with the weapon.”
Officers were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. One suffered a shoulder injury, another suffered a leg injury and the third had a “grab wound,” Schierbaum revealed. Two of the three are undergoing surgery.
“They are alive and stable, alert, conscious and breathing,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said at the news conference outside the hospital.
Schierbaum said two of the injured officers are 31 years old, both four-year veterans of the department, and the third is a 28-year-old who has been with the department for five months.
It's not clear exactly where the shooting happened or what led to it. Schierbaum said officers were initially called to a commercial area.
The officers' names were not immediately released. The name of the suspect was also not provided.
Per department policy with all officer-involved shootings, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will investigate, Schierbaum said.
