Two teenage boys were arrested on gun charges and other counts after a police officer attempting a traffic stop in Waycross fired multiple gunshots at their car, according to police.
The GBI launched an investigation of the incident Saturday morning in Waycross. Two boys, ages 16 and 15, were inside the car when a Waycross police officer approaching from the front opened fire, saying the vehicle had begun driving toward him, the GBI said.
No one was hurt by the gunfire. Before the shooting started, three younger children — ages 14, 12 and 9 — ran from the vehicle, the GBI said in a news release Saturday. The agency said the officer who opened fire had come to assist another Waycross officer who began following the car after witnessing the driver commit a traffic violation.
The Associated Press reported that a statement from Waycross police said two officers have been placed on administrative leave while the GBI investigates, which is customary in Georgia.
The AP also reported Waycross police said both teenagers inside the car were arrested on charges of illegal possession of a firearm by a minor. The 16-year-old driver was also charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, reckless driving, running a stop sign and driving without a license.
The 15-year-old passenger was also charged with additional crimes of obstruction of a police officer and attempting to remove an officer's firearm, according to the statement from Waycross police, which did not release the boys' names.
Reporters at the scene Saturday said several bullet holes could be seen in the car the children had been riding in.
Atlanta attorney Gerald Griggs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was contacted by the Waycross NAACP following Saturday morning’s incident and tagged in the now-viral video.
Griggs, who serves as vice president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, said the organization is requesting the immediate release of the officers’ body camera and dash camera footage so they can conduct their own investigation into the police shooting.
“I’m very concerned that shots were fired while children were involved,” he said. “We’re concerned that level of force was used.”
The GBI said once its investigation is complete, the findings will be turned over to the Ware County District Attorney’s Office.
The Waycross shooting was one of four officer-involved shootings the GBI responded to in less than 24 hours, officials said Saturday.
On Friday evening, a Norcross man was shot by police after authorities said he pointed a gun at a Gwinnett County police officer during a domestic dispute at an apartment complex near Norcross.
RELATED: Man shot by police during domestic dispute at Gwinnett apartment complex
The suspect, 47-year-old Ramon Guillen, remains at Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition, according to the GBI.
And a Johns Creek police officer fired at a woman’s car early Saturday after she reportedly struck two people in the parking lot of a bar and then drove toward the officer.
MORE: GBI: Cop fires at woman who struck 2 people in Johns Creek parking lot
Nobody was shot in the incident outside Bliss Bar and Lounge on Medlock Bridge Road, but 30-year-old Yasmine Mbi was arrested at her home Saturday morning, police said. She is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of hit-and-run, jail records show.
The two women she’s accused of hitting with her car were taken to the hospital. One of them was seriously injured and the other suffered minor injuries, authorities said.
The GBI was also called to investigate a fatal shooting involving a Georgia State Patrol trooper Friday evening.
According to the the GBI, the trooper attempted to stop a Nissan Sentra for a traffic-related offense on Stoney Pond Road in Screven County, which is about 60 miles north of Savannah on the border with South Carolina.
After a brief chase down several county roads, the trooper initiated a PIT maneuver, and the car came to a stop in a ditch. The trooper fired one round, fatally striking 60-year-old Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, authorities said.
— The Associated Press contributed to this Atlanta Journal-Constitution report.
