A suspect in a DeKalb County double shooting that left one woman dead and another injured was killed Wednesday afternoon during an exchange of gunfire with a Georgia State Patrol trooper on I-285 south of Atlanta, officials said.
The suspect, identified by the GBI as 36-year-old Terrel Gas of Lithonia, was wanted on murder and aggravated assault charges stemming from the fatal shooting Tuesday. Police did not release the identities of either victim. The survivor was taken to the hospital, but no update was provided on her condition.
The trooper-involved shooting took place on I-285 at Old National Highway near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport around 2:30 p.m., the GBI confirmed. The incident began when DeKalb sheriff’s deputies attempted to pull Gas over for a traffic stop.
Gas fled and was pursued by GSP troopers, driving his car down an embankment in the area of Old National Highway and the I-85 North exit ramp, according to a GBI news release. Gas ran out of his car holding a gun and troopers fired at him, hitting him multiple times, the GBI said. Gas was taken to the hospital and later died from his wounds.
One trooper suffered a non-life-threatening injury and was taken to the hospital, the GBI said. The agency did not share further details about the nature of the trooper’s injury.
Several additional agencies were on the scene or involved, including the College Park, South Fulton and DeKalb County police departments.
The shooting comes on the heels of a similar trooper-involved shooting in Columbus on Tuesday. A man was shot to death after leading troopers on a high-speed chase before officials said he opened fire on the officers attempting to arrest him, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
This is the 39th shooting involving a law enforcement officer the GBI has investigated this year, and the 20th such incident to end in death. 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.
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