A fugitive from Mississippi led Coweta County authorities on a high-speed chase and opened fire on them before turning an assault rifle on himself, officials said.
Just before 10 p.m. Friday, Coweta sheriff’s Cpl. Scott Tarpley and Georgia State Patrol Trooper Alberto Jensen spotted a gray Range Rover traveling north on I-85.
“This vehicle was a suspect vehicle in an aggravated assault and murder case in Mississippi,” the state agency said in a statement.
As Tarpley caught up to the SUV, the driver turned on his emergency flashers and sped away, according to officials.
Tarpley tried to pull over the vehicle on I-85 North at mile marker 43, but the driver did not stop, authorities said. That is when a pursuit began, according to the GSP.
Tarpley eventually positioned his patrol car to disable the SUV, commonly known as a PIT maneuver. Before the vehicle became disabled and crashed into a guardrail, the driver gained partial control of the SUV and managed to fire two shots out of the front windshield with an assault rifle at deputies and troopers, officials said.
No deputies or troopers returned fire or were injured.
After the crash, the driver shot himself, the GSP reported. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Authorities later identified him as Jarvis Dermetrious Brown.
Brown came to Georgia hours after a shooting and deadly crash in Gulfport, Mississippi, police in that city said.
Authorities had been looking for him after they said Brown fired shots at and pursued a vehicle that overturned about 3:20 p.m. Friday. One of the bullets hit his ex-girlfriend in the head. She is in critical condition at a hospital. Three people were ejected from the vehicle after it flipped. One of them, a 13-year-old boy, later died, Gulfport police spokesman Detective Jason DuCré told AJC.com.
In other news:
About the Author
