Man fatally shot after firing rifle at officers

A man was shot to death by police in DeKalb County after authorities said he fired a rifle at officers.

Chamblee police officers were sent to a parking lot in the 2300 block of Shallowford Terrace about 9 a.m. Sunday, the agency said in a joint statement with the Brookhaven Police Department.

A 911 caller reported the man was yelling at passersby to call the police, the statement said.

The man, who was armed with a rifle, was sitting in a vehicle near the intersection of Shallowford Terrace and Buford Highway when investigators arrived to the scene, police said. Chamblee police called other agencies for help responding to the incident, including Brookhaven police and the DeKalb SWAT Team.

“While awaiting the arrival of DeKalb SWAT, officers at the scene made continuous attempts to negotiate with the subject and prepared less-lethal weapons options in an attempt to avoid the use of deadly force,” the statement said.

At some point, the man got out of his car, stepped onto Buford Highway and started firing his rifle, according to the statement. The gunfire hit a Chamblee police car at least once. “In defense of themselves and in protection of the motorists and pedestrians in the area, officers from both the Chamblee and Brookhaven Police Depart- ments fired their weapons at the suspect,” the statement said. “The suspect was struck at least once and was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.”

The GBI was called to investigate the fatal shooting, the agency confirmed Sunday morning.

The shooting is the 52nd officer-involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate this year, according to spokeswoman Nelly Miles. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.