A man wearing a ballistic vest was shot by Sandy Springs police officers when he confronted them with a gun Tuesday afternoon, state officials said.
The officers were trying to serve the man, identified as 27-year-old Benjamin Wright by the GBI, with several arrest warrants at the Victoria Heights apartments on Roswell Road just before 3:30 p.m. When they knocked on an apartment door, the GBI said Wright confronted them wearing body armor and carrying a handgun.
He pointed the gun at law enforcement and two officers opened fire, striking Wright in the vest, according to the state agency. The man retreated inside and a standoff ensued.
Eventually, Wright came out of the apartment with a woman, who was also detained. Wright was taken to a hospital to be evaluated for minor injuries, and no officers were injured, GBI spokesperson Lydia Bullard said.
“Initially, officers did not believe they hit Wright and continued their investigation,” Bullard said in a statement. “Once they realized they had hit Wright in the vest, they called the GBI to investigate.”
The state agency confirmed Sandy Springs police were conducting a drug investigation at the time of the shooting but did not disclose Wright’s specific charges.
The case shares several similarities with another shooting involving law enforcement in Pickens County a little more than a week ago. Deputies there were called to a home in Jasper for a wellness check and were confronted by an armed man wearing body armor.
In the initial statement after the shooting, the sheriff’s office said the suspect, identified as Norman Edward Dawson, fired on the deputies and they returned fire. The GBI’s statement did not mention Dawson firing his weapon, and a spokeswoman for the state agency could not provide further details.
Dawson was killed during that encounter.
The GBI will conduct an independent investigation into Tuesday’s shooting. Once completed, it will turn over its findings to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review. It’s the 55th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year and the eighth this month. By this time last year, there had been 70 such shootings in Georgia.
— Staff writer David Aaro contributed to this article.
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