Officers shoot man firing gun in business parking lot, police say

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Officers said they rushed to a business plaza Thursday afternoon when a gunman opened fire on a bottled water delivery truck.

When the man refused to drop the gun, police said they had no choice but to shoot him.

Cookie Shapiro works in the building on Village Parkway where it all unfolded.

"I have never heard a gunshot before and I heard like six of them. And I knew exactly what it was. It was loud. It was one, right after the next," Shapiro told Channel 2's Chris Jose. "I had spoken to him. He had just made a delivery. His partner was at another location, and that's when the firing started.

Shapiro told Jose that police arrived within minutes.

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“They repeatedly told him, 'Put the weapon down. Put the weapon down.' He refused to. He started to lift his arm up,” said Smyrna Deputy Police Chief Robert Harvey.

Harvey said the man put people in danger. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the shooting.

“There’s an imminent threat, he’s already displayed that threat. And shown it,” Harvey said. “When we made contact with him, he refused to put down that threat. We had to act.”

Investigators are trying to figure out why the man targeted the truck. Shapiro said she is thankful stray bullets didn’t fly into her office.

“We have to be very grateful (for those) who are protecting us at all times. They got here within minutes of the gunshots. It was incredible,” Shapiro said.

Police said the man was alive when paramedics rushed him to the hospital. Investigators spent the afternoon going around to the different buildings in the area to speak to witnesses.

Cox Media Group