GBI: Man dead, K-9 injured after police chase, shooting

A man is dead and a police dog injured after a chase in Douglasville led to a manhunt and shooting early Sunday.

The incident began just before 2 a.m. in the area of I-20 and Douglas Boulevard in Douglasville.

Douglasville police officers were conducting a driver’s license check at a safety checkpoint on Chapel Hill Road, the GBI said. During the process, the officers saw another vehicle “attempting to avoid law enforcement.”

The officers began following the car, but the man driving it got out and started running, the GBI said. Douglasville police then set up a perimeter and asked the Austell Police Department to bring its K-9 to track down the man.

“During the search, the man was found and gunfire was exchanged with an Austell PD officer,” the GBI said. The police dog,

Officer Jerry Lee, was hit once in his front leg.

The police dog was taken for medical attention, according to the Austell Police Department. The agency last reported that Jerry Lee was being prepared for surgery.

The man ran into a wood line parallel to I-20, the GBI said. Douglasville police asked the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol’s aviation unit to help locate the man once again.

About 5 a.m., GSP found the man in the woods near Douglas Boulevard.

A SWAT team tried to talk to the man, but during the negotiations, they heard a gunshot, the GBI said.

The man was found wounded in the woods shortly after. Investigators said a handgun was discovered near him.

He was taken to Wellstar Douglas Hospital, where he died of his injuries. His name was not released.

The GBI has not specified who fired the fatal gunshot but confirmed it was investigating the matter. The incident is the 23rd shooting involving a law enforcement officer the GBI has been asked to investigate this year.