Fulton deputy stable after being shot in downtown Atlanta

The deputy, who was not publicly identified, was responding to help another law enforcement officer when he was shot, Labat said. The Atlanta Police Department, which will lead the investigation, said the deputy was “struck by gunfire from a moving vehicle and that the suspect(s) fled from the scene immediately following the incident.”

Labat said the deputy has been working for the sheriff’s office for about four years and described him as “a really good deputy.”

It was the second shooting Thursday involving a law enforcement officer in Fulton.

A man was shot and killed outside a restaurant in the 3600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in southwest Atlanta by Fulton officers. Police said the man, suspected of loitering, ran from officers and got into a vehicle. Officers told him to put his hands up, but he “began reaching down and produced a handgun, prompting our officers to discharge their firearms,” authorities said.

And just a week ago, one officer was killed and three others were shot.

The South Fulton Police Department, which formed in 2018, lost its first officer in the line of duty on April 15 when Lt. Helio Garcia was killed in a head-on collision, according to investigators.

Two days later, Paulding County Deputy Brice Mattick was shot in the shoulder after responding for a wellness check at a home just before 7 a.m. when 22-year-old Jameel Johnson fired shots, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson. Deputies returned fire, killing Johnson.

On April 18, two more officers — South Fulton Lt. Charles Cook and Fulton County Officer Zahir Muid — were shot during an encounter that began on Fulton Industrial Boulevard. Investigators said Rashan Jarvis Cofield, who had an outstanding warrant, pulled out a handgun. Cook was struck at least three times and Muid returned fire.

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