The GBI is investigating after a MARTA police officer’s gun discharged during the arrest of a robbery suspect Monday evening.
MARTA officers were called to the Oakland City station around 8 p.m. about a person being robbed. The GBI said that when officers arrived, the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Carnell Kelly, ran out of the station.
Officers ran after Kelly and confronted him in James Orange Park, where he pulled out a knife, the GBI said. Police said they ordered him to drop the knife, but when they tried to put him under arrest, he grabbed it and engaged in a struggle with officers.
At some point, “the officer’s gun was fired, but no one was hit by the gunfire,” the GBI said. It was not clear if the gun was intentionally discharged.
“Agents are working to determine the circumstances leading to the weapon being fired,” officials said.
Kelly was ultimately arrested after an officer deployed a Taser.
An ambulance was called to the scene, but Kelly declined treatment. He was then taken into custody.
MARTA directed all questions to the GBI, and the state agency did not disclose what charges Kelly would face.
The GBI will continue its independent investigation, and once complete, the case file will be given to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review.
Monday’s shooting is the 70th such incident the GBI has been asked to investigate this year. By the same time last year, there had been 71.
Last week, two Smyrna officers were shot in the leg while intercepting a burglary at the Adventure Outdoors gun shop on South Cobb Drive late Friday. Cobb County police returned fire, killing the suspect, who was identified as Emilio Aguilar, 21, of Marietta.
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