1 officer kiled, 2 injured after shooting near Atlanta

LOCUST GROVE, Ga. — A police officer was fatally wounded and two deputies were seriously injured 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 (64 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.

“It all happened inside the residence,” the sheriff said at an afternoon news conference.

He said gunfire erupted as they were trying to take a male suspect into custody. McBrayer wouldn’t say who fired first or other details about how it happened. He said officers had no reason to believe when they arrived that the suspect would be violent, but it became obvious that he wasn’t going to go with them willingly.

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.

McBrayer said one deputy was in serious condition, and had been hit below the bullet-proof 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.

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.