By Henri Hollis
Source The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A murder suspect accused of shooting a fugitive task force officer on Tuesday is dead after a standoff in a Stockbridge neighborhood, officials said.
In a news conference outside Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the officer who was shot is expected to make a full recovery. The APD investigator is a member of a fugitive task force also staffed by the Georgia State Patrol and U.S. Marshals Service.
The task force tried to take 33-year-old Derrick Rankins into custody around noon Tuesday, Schierbaum said. Rankins was suspected of killing Courtney Reese in southeast Atlanta on Aug. 20, according to the police chief.
When the task force tried to arrest Rankins at a home on Linden Drive in the Swan Lake Estates neighborhood, he opened fire on them and shot the APD officer, Schierbaum said. Rankins then barricaded himself inside, a USMS spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The officer was hit in the arm and is expected to make a full recovery, according to Schierbaum. The chief thanked the Henry sheriff’s office for using their helicopter to transport the injured officer, an 18-year veteran of the force, to Grady.
Officials did not say how Rankins died. Henry police said the Swan Lake Estates neighborhood had been “made safe” around 2:15 p.m.
Henry police assisted the task force as they worked to resolve the standoff, and the local agency warned residents of Swan Lake Estates to remain inside or avoid the area while the situation was active.
The GBI, which has taken over the investigation, has not released any information about the incident.
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