An off-duty police officer shot and killed a teen accused of sliding into his unmarked car at a southwest Atlanta gas station Tuesday evening, the GBI said.
Oliver Simmonds, a member of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ security detail, was not wearing his uniform at the time, Channel 2 Action News reported. A spokesman for Bottoms’ office said officials were “aware of the incident.”
The deadly shooting happened about 7:20 p.m. at a Shell gas station near the intersection of Whitehall and McDaniel streets, the GBI told Channel 2.
Simmonds was filling up his police car when the teen, later identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office as 18-year-old D’Ettrick Griffin, allegedly jumped into the driver’s seat, which is commonly referred to as a “slider” crime. The vehicle began to drive away, and the officer tried to stop it, the GBI said. At some point, Simmonds fired multiple shots at Griffin, according to authorities.
The car traveled a short distance before crashing into two parked vehicles, the GBI said. Officers found Griffin dead in the vehicle.
Simmonds had a minor injury to his foot but was not shot, the news station reported.
Atlanta police spokesman Officer Jarius Daugherty said Simmonds was hired by the department on April 29, 2010. His status with the agency was not released.
The GBI said there’s no evidence the man was armed with any kind of weapon, and he might not have realized he targeted a police car because it was unmarked.
The WSB 24-hour Traffic Center reported police temporarily blocked the I-20 eastbound exit ramp to McDaniel as well as the street’s intersection with Whitehall to investigate the incident.
The GBI continues to investigate the officer-involved shooting. This is the sixth such investigation the agency has opened in 2019, and the second deadly police shooting this week.
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Police shot and killed patient Rodney Hamilton, 62, of Dahlonega, after he held people hostage at gunpoint inside Lanier Dermatology on Monday morning, the GBI said.
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