ATLANTA — Three Atlanta police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after an altercation Saturday night that left one suspect dead, authorities said.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schielbaum said in a news conference that officers responded to a report of an armed man in a commercial area on Fairbanks Street at 5:15 p.m., then a man with a handgun and a knife on DeSoto Avenue. He said he encountered it.
“During that encounter, a fight broke out and gunfire was fired, resulting in the injury of three of our officers. It also resulted in the death of the individual who was in possession of the handgun,” Schielbaum said.
Police did not immediately identify the dead man. Police do not believe anyone else was involved, Seelbaum said.
The three officers were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in a police patrol vehicle.
One officer was shot in the shoulder, another was shot in the leg, and a third suffered a graze wound. Two of the officers will undergo surgery, Schielbaum said.
He said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will lead the investigation into the shooting.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said he spoke with police officers at the hospital and said they were “alert, conscious and breathing.”
“This is yet another reminder of the harm that guns cause to our communities,” Dickens said at a news conference outside the hospital, adding that when he received word of the shooting, he and other staff members went to the police. He said he was on his way to a fundraiser.
