Officer Sean Louis Callahan had been on the job just four months when he was gunned down by a suspect he was trying to apprehend during a domestic dispute at a Stockbridge Motel Monday.
The 24-year-old Clayton County rookie officer who graduated from Cobb’s Lassiter High School in 2006, died at 5:16 a.m. Tuesday while undergoing surgery at Grady Hospital. He was shot twice in the head.
Clayton police identified the suspect, who also died in Monday’s shootout as Tremaine Lynn Lebis, 42. He had just gotten out of Telfair State Prison seven months ago, where he was serving time for a parole violation, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. Lebis had previously served 15 years on an aggravated assault charge. His wife, Lisa Lebis, was arrested at the scene and charged with obstruction and simple battery. She was denied bond Tuesday.
Callahan and another officer were attempting to arrest Lebis when he broke free, ran away and started shooting, according to police.
Callahan joined the Clayton force on Aug. 6, fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a police officer. The young officer paid his way through police academy and didn’t mind the more than hour-long one-way commute to Clayton from Cobb where he lived with his mother, stepfather and grandmother.
The rookie, described by Clayton Police Chief Greg Porter as outgoing, energetic and professional, left a mark on the department in his short time on the force.
“I was very impressed with him during the interview process so I hired him,” Porter said. “He came across dedicated and committed. It takes a unique person to be a police officer. I could tell he meant the things he said.”
His determination to succeed emerged as a high school student when he lost his father. Young Callahan “struggled at times” but pushed through to graduate in 2006, Dr. Millie Dawson-Hardy, head of counseling at Lassister High School told Channel 2 Action News. He later paid his own way through Reinhardt University’s Police Academy in Alpharetta, graduating in June 2011.
“He was a very nice young man,” Nathan Rosenthal, a neighbor of the Callahan family, said Tuesday. “Nice neighbors. Quiet, friendly people.” Rosenthal said the family has lived in the neighborhood about three years.
Callahan is the first Clayton County police officer to die from a shooting in the department’s 84-year history, according to Porter. It is the second time in a week that a Clayton police officer has been seriously injured in the line of duty. Last Wednesday, Clayton police officer Michael Hooks, an 11-year veteran, was run over by a car driven by a suspected burglar with an extensive criminal record. The officer sustained a serious head injury but is expected to recover.
Callahan is the fifth metro Atlanta officer to die in the line of duty this year. In January, Atlanta Officer Gail Thomas died when she was struck by an allegedly drunk driver after stopping to help someone whose car had broken down on the Brookwood Interchange ramp from I-75 southbound to I-85 northbound. November was an especially deadly month. On Nov. 3, Atlanta officers Richard J. Halford and Shawn A. Smiley were killed when an APD helicopter crashed near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Hamilton E. Holmes drives. On Nov. 12, Henry County Officer Elgin L. Daniel was struck by a hit-and-run driver while assisting a motorist who had run out of gas on North Henry Boulevard in Stockbridge.
A visitation and viewing for officer Callahan will be Thursday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pineride Memorial Park, 2950 N. Cobb Parkway in Kennesaw. His funeral will be Friday at 11 a.m. at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, 955 Johnson Ferry Road in Marietta.
Staff writers Mike Morris and Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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