The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Suspect denied bond in APD officer shooting
Fugitive was on probation, wanted in October incident.
The 22-year-old man accused of shooting an Atlanta police officer multiple times Monday afternoon was on probation when he was allegedly involved in a robbery in October, records show.
Officer David Rodgers, an 11-year veteran of the department, was trying to arrest Christian Eppinger at the Colonial Square Apartment Homes along Old Hapeville Road around 1:15 p.m. Monday when he was shot six times and seriously injured, police said.
Rodgers was struck four times in the right shoulder, once above his right knee and once on the back right side of his head, officers noted in Eppinger’s arrest warrant. Rodgers was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he is said to be stable.
“He’s able to communicate with his coworkers. He’s able to communicate with his family,” Atlanta police Deputy Chief Darin Schierbaum said during Monday’s news conference. “He will have a long road through recovery.”
Eppinger was taken to the Fulton County jail, where he faces a slew of charges, including aggravated assault and aggravated battery against a peace officer, willful obstruction of law enforcement and six counts of participating in gang-related criminal activity.
He appeared Tuesday morning before a Fulton County judge via Zoom, according to Channel 2 Action News. His attorney, Natalie Fiacco, noted Eppinger has no adult criminal history and is a soon-to-be father. Prosecutor Rushandra Davenport, however, argued that Eppinger should remain in custody because he is a documented gang member and had been wanted on armed robbery and aggravated assault charges stemming from the October incident.
The judge denied his bond. “This department will not be deterred. What happened today is the challenge that we are against here in Atlanta and in cities across the country,” Schierbaum said Monday. “Police officers are being assaulted at record levels across the country.”
Police were seeking to arrest Eppinger for an Oct. 12 armed robbery during which he and another man allegedly demanded jewelry from a man in a park at 47 Cleveland Avenue, according to an incident report. The suspects held the victim at gunpoint and demanded his diamond earrings, diamond and gold necklace, two iphones and car keys. The suspects then jumped into the victim’s car and fled.
Eppinger is described by police as a known member of the Young Slime Life gang, a local subset of a street gang known as Sex Money Murder, which is itself a subset of the Bloods criminal street gang, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In an arrest warrant, investigators noted Young Slime Life members are known to deal illegal narcotics and commit armed robberies and aggravated assaults “to financially support and proliferate the gang and to gain notoriety, respect and (to) intimidate others.”
After Monday’s shooting, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens visited Rodgers at the hospital.
“As soon as I found out, I was like, ‘Take me to Grady, let me go meet the officer,’” Dickens said Tuesday. “When I came in, he maybe had only been there 15 minutes and I got to see him with the doctors trying to see what range of motion he had in his arms and legs and all that. And he was tough. He was strong.”
At the time of the October robbery, Eppinger had been on probation for a series of felonies in which he was charged as a minor in 2016, according to online court records. Those included robbery, carjacking, aggravated assault, fleeing arrest and third-degree cruelty to children.
He served five years in the Georgia Department of Corrections system and was scheduled to serve six years of probation, court records show.
Upon his release in May 2021, he reported as instructed to the Atlanta probation field office and remained in an active supervision status, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision said in a statement. But he failed to report after the initial appointment.
“As such, a warrant was requested but had not been fully processed at the time of this incident (Monday),” the department said.