A man was shot by an Athens-Clarke County officer Saturday after he allegedly wielded a machete at police responding to a domestic violence call, officials said.
The shooting happened about 5 p.m. at the University Gardens Apartments on Baxter Drive in Athens, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a news release Sunday.
Officers were called to the complex due to a domestic violence incident involving a 28-year-old man, Miles said.
When officers arrived, they found the man armed with a machete.
Officers told the man to drop the machete, Miles said.
The man brandished the weapon in a threatening manner towards an officer, police spokesman Geoffrey Gilland said in a news release.
“Fearing for his life, our officer discharged his service weapon and struck the male in the torso,” he said.
The man was taken to a local hospital, where he is is in serious condition. His identity and the identity of the officer are not being released at this time, Gilland said. The officer was placed on administrative leave with pay.
The GBI was called to investigate the incident. This is the 66th officer-involved shooting the agency has been requested to investigate in 2019.
The last one happened when a man walked into the path of a moving car to make it look like he was hit and then pulled out a knife before being shot by a Gainesville police officer.
RELATED: GBI: Knife-wielding man walked into moving car, was shot by Gainesville officers
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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