Two Ga. Officers Shot; Two Suspects Arrested

A suspect in the predawn shooting of two DeKalb County police officers was arrested late Friday morning, ending a massive manhunt that had six nearby schools on lockdown.

A second suspect was shot and critically wounded in the shootout, which happened about 6:45 a.m. as the officers responded to a home invasion robbery at the Colony Ridge Apartments on Glenwood Road just inside I-285.

"It was a shootout face to face between the officers and the bad guys," said DeKalb County Public Safety head Cedric Alexander, while explaining that the officers were fired at as soon as they got out of their cars. Alexander gave an update on the incident at press conference early Friday afternoon. Officers returned fire, hitting both suspects.

Both officers were shot in the leg and are expected to recover from their wounds. One of the officers has already been released from Atlanta Medical Center, where the second officer was in fair condition at noon Friday.

The lockdown at six nearby schools -- Towers and Columbia high schools, Canby Lane and Snapfinger elementary schools, the DeKalb Preparatory Academy and Wadsworth Magnet -- was lifted after police arrested the second suspect around 11 a.m. at a cemetery just off Glenwood Road on the east side of I-285.

Here's a recap of the day's events, which included a second, unrelated shooting:

12:58 p.m.: Cedric Alexander said at the early afternoon press conference that the suspect arrested at 11 a.m. had been wounded during the initial exchange of gunfire, and was also been bitten by a Doraville police K-9 that had tracked him to the location. That suspect is 29 years old, Alexander said, while the suspect critically wounded in the initial gun battle is 39 years old. Their names have not been released.

Alexander said the officers were fired upon "within seconds" of exiting their patrol cars, setting off the exchange of gunfire.

He said the suspects were armed with at least one fully-automatic assault rifle. They face charges of home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated assault on a police officer, he said.

Alexander identified the officer released from the hospital Devon Perry. Perry is 29 years old, was shot in the calf, and has been on the force for four years. The second officer, Tony Luong, is 26, was shot in the thigh and has been with DeKalb police for about a year, he said.

12:11 p.m.: Lockdowns have been lifted at six DeKalb County schools: Canby Lane Elementary, Snapfinger Elementary, DeKalb Preparatory Academy, Columbia High and Towers High ES and Wadsworth Magnet, schools spokesman Quinn Hudson said in an email. Originally, officials placed four schools on lockdown. Canby Lane and Wadsworth were added later in the day, Hudson said.

11:48 a.m.: While one of the wounded DeKalb officers has been released from Atlanta Medical Center, another officer is still at the hospital in fair condition, according to Channel 2 Action News.

11:08 a.m.: The Marshals Office tells Channel 2 Action News that the person arrested at a cemetery is the suspect in the DeKalb police shooting.

11:01 a.m.: Police are making an arrest at a cemetery, according to Channel 2 Action News. It is not immediately clear if he is the second suspect.

10:54 a.m.: DeKalb police closed down an area of south DeKalb Friday as search teams fanned out in search of at least one gunman who had ambushed and shot two officers earlier in the morning.

"The canine has the scent," Capt. Stephen Fore said. "We have canines on the ground and we have air support overhead."

A canine team was tracking one man suspected of taking part in the ambush at the Colony Ridge Apartments on Glenwood Road near I-285, Fore said. DeKalb officers, sheriff deputies, state troopers and "even some APD" officers were combing neighborhoods, Fore said.

The shooting happened around 6:45 a.m. when police received a report of a home invasion robbery at the complex and responded to an apartment.

"They were immediately fired upon and two of the officers were struck," Fore said. "They were able to return fire and strike one of the suspects."

The wounded gunman was in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital. One of the officers was wounded in the thigh and the other was shot in his calf. One was in surgery Friday morning for a non-life-threatening injury, Fore said.

Fore did not have a lot of details about whether police had located witnesses other than the robbery victims. He did not know what information the victims had supplied police.

10:37 a.m.: Channel 2 Action News reports that DeKalb school officials expect to release students at the four locked down schools at their normal time Friday afternoon.

10:27 a.m.: Authorities are nearly 100 percent sure the second shooting is not related to the earlier shooting involving two DeKalb police officers, Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot has learned. One person is dead with a gunshot wound to the head, according to Elliot. "This is a homicide scene," he reported.

10:23 a.m.: One officer is still in surgery, DeKalb police Capt. Stephen Fore tells reporters. The other is alert and conscious. The names of the officers have not been released, but Fore said the officers were "relatively young officers with the department." The suspect wounded by the officers is in critical condition, he said.

10:22 a.m.: At the press conference, DeKalb police Capt. Stephen Fore confirms authorities are searching for one additional suspect.

10:20 a.m.: DeKalb police Capt. Stephen Fore said at a 10:20 a.m. press conference that the two officers responded to a 6:45 a.m. call about a home invasion and robbery, and were approaching the location when they exchanged gunfire with the suspects.

10:18 a.m.: Another heavily-armed SWAT team has arrived at the Glenwood Road scene.

10:17 a.m.: Channel 2 is reporting from the scene of the second shooting on Wesley Chapel that there is no indication that that incident is related to the Glenwood Road shooting about two miles away, but that there is also no indication that it is not related. They also reported that a DeKalb Medical Examiner's van has arrived at the Wesley Chapel scene, indicating the possibility that it is a fatal shooting.

Channel 2 reports from Atlanta Medical Center that one of the officers was shot in the calf and one in the thigh. Both are expected to recover.

10:13 a.m.: Police sources tell Channel 2 Action News reporter Liz Artz that both officers were shot in the leg.

10:10 a.m.: Heavy SWAT unit passed the command station, which is the Hop-In gas station at Glenwood Road at I-285. Officers are searching along the highway. Officials from the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, Georgia State Patrol are in the area.

Officers are concentrating their efforts about two to three blocks around a gas station at I-285 and Glenwood Road.

10:06 a.m.: Channel 2 Action News is reporting that there are "at least 100" officers from several jurisdictions involved in the search for a suspect. At 10 a.m., there was also still a lot of police activity at the apartments where the first shooting happened.

10:03 a.m.: Snapfinger Road at Glenfair Road is blocked off, according to Channel 2 Action News Lots of SWAT officers with guns drawn. The neighborhood has not been evacuated.

Update: Another shooting has been reported in a wooded area across the street from a Home Depot on New Snapfinger Woods Drive at Wesley Chapel Road. It was not immediately clear if the second shooting was related to the first one. Lots of police were in the area, according to Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot.

Earlier: A manhunt for at least one suspect is underway in DeKalb County after two police officers were shot Friday morning at an apartment complex near Glenwood Road and Austin Drive, according to Channel 2 Action News.

An additional suspect was shot during the incident, which occurred just before 7 a.m. at the Colony Ridge Apartments.

In the first incident, police told Channel 2 the officers were shot with a high-powered rifle after they responded to a home invasion at the apartment complex.

The officers were taken to Atlanta Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries, the television station reported. One was in surgery.

DeKalb fire Capt. Eric Jackson told Channel 2 he did not know the suspect's condition.

All lanes of I-285 southbound at Glenwood Road, which is near the shooting scene, were temporarily closed, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation website. Several blocks of Glenwood Road just west of I-285 were shut down by police. The intersection of Glenwood Road and Austin Drive was also blocked.

Four schools, Snapfinger Elementary, DeKalb Preparatory Academy, Columbia High and Towers High, were placed on a soft lockdown, which means movements in and out of the schools were restricted, DeKalb schools spokesman Quinn Hudson told Channel 2.

Friday's shooting happened in the same block of Glenwood Road where two DeKalb officers were shot and killed nearly seven years ago.

Officers Ricky Bryant Jr. and Eric Barker were working extra jobs at the Glenwood Gardens apartments on Jan. 16 , 2008, when they were shot and killed by William Woodard.

A DeKalb jury convicted Woodard of murder in 2012 and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Tribune News Service