Woman arrested after mistaking officer for intruder, shooting him in the arm

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Clayton County police officials say an officer is recovering after being shot in the arm early this morning.

Police said the shooter mistook him for someone trying to break into her apartment.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was in Clayton County, where LaShonda Person, 49, faces two counts of reckless conduct.

Chief Kevin Roberts said officers were called to an apartment complex on Fieldstone Parkway along Mt. Zion Parkway around 4 a.m. after a man said gunmen were shooting at him in his building’s breezeway. Officer at the scene found the shooters had shattered the man’s car window.

As police were searching behind one of the buildings for the suspects, polices said Person saw the officer’s flashlight and began to shoot from inside her apartment, thinking someone was trying to break into her home.

The officer was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta just after 4:15 a.m. Authorities say the officer was alert and conscious, and the injury is non-life threatening.

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The injured officer was expected to be released later Friday.

Jones talked to neighbors, who were alarmed after hearing the shots fired in their complex.

Tamar Raheem said it sounded like a war zone and he and his girlfriend dove for cover when they heard shots being fired.

“It happened right here in my hallway,” Raheem said, describing the sound of gunshots. “Bullets hitting here, bullets hitting all up in here. The bullets were flying everywhere.”

On Friday morning, bullet holes remained in Person’s patio door. Police said that even though Person believed she was in danger, she was arrested because she was firing blindly and endangering other people.

Police have not found the gunmen who fired the initial shots. Raheem said the shooters started a chain of events that put many lives in danger.

“When it gets to the point in society where police are riding up and people are shooting through the door and an officer is getting hit, it’s getting crazy out here, man,” Raheem said.

Cox Media Group