A man is dead and an Atlanta police officer was arrested after a fight between the two at a South Fulton bar escalated to a fatal shooting, the GBI said.
The officer, who was off-duty at the time, has been relieved of active duty, an Atlanta Police Department spokesman said.
South Fulton police asked the GBI to investigate the incident, which took place early Monday morning at a bar on Old National Highway near the interchange between I-85 and I-285. APD Officer Melvin Potter was taken into custody on a misdemeanor obstruction charge after the shooting.
According to the GBI, Potter shot and killed 28-year-old Devon Anderson around 1 a.m. during a fight that was sparked by an earlier argument.
Potter was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Monday and released the same day on $1,000 bond, online records show.
APD internal affairs investigators were called to the scene, Channel 2 Action News reported. According to the news station, Potter did not cooperate with police and refused a blood test.
No additional charges have been filed and officials did not say if alcohol was a factor in the incident, but Potter has faced professional disciplinary action related to alcohol misuse in the past.
At the time of the shooting, his state certification was on probation, records from Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Council show. Potter had been pulled over in Coweta County in 2021 and was arrested on drunken driving charges, according to POST records.
The DUI arrest led Potter to be placed on probation for 36 months starting in November 2021, POST records show.
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