A DeKalb County police officer was shot five times Sunday morning before returning fire and killing his assailant at a Stone Mountain apartment complex, officials said.
The officer, 43-year-old Chester Lamb, was in “serious but stable” condition following the incident.
DeKalb County Interim Police Chief James Conroy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, just after 2 a.m., officers responded to several 911 calls reporting a man shooting into a building at the Marquis Pointe apartments. The alleged shooter was gone by the time officers arrived at the complex on Stone Mill Cove, but they did find “several apartments damaged by gunfire.”
Police returned to the complex around 3:20 a.m. after another 911 call, Conroy said, this one from a woman reporting that “the shooter was back and banging on her door.”
Authorities have not confirmed it was the same man from previous calls, but Conroy said a suspect “came out shooting” at officers responding to the apartment complex.
One officer — identified as Lamb, a seven-year veteran of the department — was hit multiple times, police said. Lamb was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in “serious but stable” condition, Conroy said, but not before returning fire at the suspect.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Sherry Lang, whose agency has taken over the investigation, identified the suspect as Frederick Farmer, a man in his 20s. Farmer was “struck more than one time” and pronounced dead at the scene, Lang said.
Per department policy, both officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave. The second officer at the scene was not injured and did not discharge his firearm, Conroy said.
“The GBI will conduct a thorough investigation to determine what occurred,” Lang said. “When the investigation is complete it will be turned over to the (district attorney) for any action he deems appropriate.”
The DeKalb County shooting is the third use-of-force incident being investigated by the GBI in metro Atlanta this weekend. The agency is also investigating a Gwinnett case where a man died following an "altercation" with police officers, as well as a Newton County case where two men were shot after a gun was allegedly pointed at deputies during a traffic stop.
