The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gunman killed in shootout with police
Two officers grazed in blocks-long gun battle near Piedmont Park.
Two Atlanta police officers were grazed by bullets during a deadly shootout near Piedmont Park on Tuesday.
Two Atlanta police officers were grazed by bullets in a deadly shootout with a gunman near Piedmont Park on Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The gun battle stretched several blocks in front of the park, from the area of 10th Street to The Prado, according to Maj. Michael O’Connor. Six officers were involved before one fired the fatal round, he said. The man who opened fire was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital. Police believe the suspect, identified as William Simpkins, 39, of Atlanta, is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The call came in about 8 a.m. as a report of a man firing rounds
into the air near the park, according to O’Connor. The first officer to arrive tried to speak with
the man.
“At about the 15 feet-away mark, the suspect turns around and begins to indiscriminately shoot at the police officer,” O’Connor said from the scene. “At that point, we were engaged in an active gun battle.”
Two of the officers responding as backup brought long guns. It was a rifle round that eventually hit the man, ending the shootout somewhere north of The Prado, O’Connor said. Dozens of rounds were fired, and two officers were struck.
“One was shot to the head,” O’Connor said. “It’s a graze wound to the head, so he’s fine. And I had an officer who later realized, after the adrenaline wore off, that he had been shot in the foot.”
Both officers were expected to be treated and released from Grady Memorial Hospital.
All six of the officers involved work in the police department’s Zone 5, which covers Piedmont Park and other parts of the city. They will be placed on administrative leave per department policy.
Abby Downs, who lives near Atlanta Botanical Garden, said she was on a walk when she saw multiple patrol cars make quick turns and race down Piedmont Avenue.
“About the time they got onto Piedmont, they hopped out of their cars with the guns and started shooting down Piedmont toward the botanical gardens,” she said.
She took cover inside her house when she heard the gunfire. When things settled down, she walked back outside to see a large police and emergency response, she said.
O’Connor, who commands Zone 5, said investigators are working to learn what prompted the incident. He has reviewed the officers’ body cameras and said the man at times pleaded with them to shoot him.”
He apparently was having some form of mental crisis, and what we see here is consistent with that,” he said.
O’Connor praised the officers for their quick actions. Given the highly populated area and proximity to a busy park, he said the gunfight could have ended much worse. No bystanders were injured. “It’s unfortunate that the suspect was killed, but he made that decision,” O’Connor said. “We didn’t make that decision. We’ve got to respond to what’s in front of us.”
The GBI is leading the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, which shut down Piedmont Avenue in front of the park for several hours. It is the 21st police shooting the GBI has investigated this year, according to agency spokeswoman Nelly Miles.