ATLANTA — A police officer was injured and a suspect was shot Tuesday after police followed a vehicle believed to be involved in several car crimes, East Point Police said.
The incident was one of three police shootings to unfold across Georgia on Tuesday.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant was at Martin Luther King Jr. and Whitehouse Drive, where a massive police presence blocked the streets Tuesday afternoon.
Police said multiple officers from the East Point and Atlanta police departments pursued a white Dodge Durango police believe was stolen and has been involved in several car thefts and break-ins around metro Atlanta.
A special detail had been following the Durango from East Point when police said the driver realized he was being followed and crashed the SUV into two undercover police cars near Booker T. Washington High School.
Atlanta police Deputy Chief Jeffry L. Glazier said the SUV knocked down an Atlanta police officer. The officer was taken to a hospital for injuries to his legs and after suffering from a possible concussion. The officer is currently stable, according to Atlanta police.
Glazier said officers from the East Point and Atlanta police departments fired at the driver and shot him in the knee. The 27-year-old man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and is also stable.
NewsChopper 2 was over the scene, where crime tape was placed across an intersection. Several cars appeared to have been involved in the crash, including at least one police car.
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The windows of a white SUV at the intersection appear to have been shot out.
Channel 2's Matt Johnson spoke with a witness who said she had to duck for cover.
"I was down, peeking out, really low peeking out," said the witness who did want to be identified. She lives across from where the shooting happened.
"It was horrible. It was something I've never witnessed before. It was like something I've seen in the movies," she said.
Booker T. Washington High School was on lockdown as police investigated, but the lockdown has since been lifted.
Martin Luther King Boulevard was shut down between Lowery Boulevard and Washington Circle most of Tuesday afternoon.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called to assist in the investigation.
Channel 2's Dave Huddleston was at Grady Memorial Hospital when patrol cars arrived.
Watch video from NewsChopper 2 below:
Third officer-involved shooting in one day;
This was the third officer-involved shooting in Georgia on Tuesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, an officer shot a man in Walton County after he pulled a gun, according to the GBI.
Police said a Walton County deputy was on patrol when he came across a man he said was "dancing in the roadway" near the Tara Commons apartment complex on Highway 81. The deputy got out of the patrol car and started to chase the man, who pulled out a gun.
Channel 2's Kristen Holloway talked to Special Agent in Charge Mike Ayers, with the GBI.
"The individual turned again, faced the officer and the officer fired one or two rounds," Ayers said. "The individual was struck."
Police said the man's injuries do not appear life-threatening. The man was taken to Gwinnett County Medical Center. The deputy was not injured. The GBI is investigating.
On Tuesday morning in south Georgia, a Georgia state trooper shot and killed a woman after she sped from a traffic stop in McIntosh County, investigators said.
The GBI said a trooper pulled over Sasha Ann Pishko, 22, on Interstate 95 around 9:30 a.m. Pishko drove off, hitting the trooper with her car. The trooper fired multiple rounds into the vehicle. Pishko wrecked the car and was pronounced dead on the scene.
The officer was treated for minor injuries.
Pishko was from Clermont, Florida. The GBI is still investigating the shooting.
There have been 15 officer-involved shootings so far this year, according to the GBI.