Officer shot while investigating smell of marijuana at gas station

CALHOUN, GA. — An officer has been rushed to the hospital after he was shot at a gas station in Calhoun.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Officer Joe Yother, a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, was inside the BP gas station at the corner of East Line and North Wall streets.

The woman in front of him was short on change, so the officer helped her pay for the cigarettes she was buying.

As Yother walked out of the gas station with the woman, he said he smelled the odor of marijuana on her and called another officer for backup for a suspicious vehicle.

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Yother then approached the car and asked for ID. That's when the GBI said a woman in the passenger seat pulled a gun out of the glove box and shot him in the arm. That bullet ricocheted into his chest, where it hit his cellphone.

Yother and the other officer on scene fire back, hitting and killing the passenger. The other woman was arrested and taken into custody.

Yother was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Cheressa Kaimi works at the gas station. She wasn't there when all of this happened but told Channel 2's Alyssa Hyman the whole thing has put her on edge

"It's a small town. It's just shocking and kind of frightful. We just had a burglary down the road a few weeks ago," she said.

The Calhoun Police Department called the GBI in to investigate. GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said this is the 88th officer-involved shooting they've been requested to investigate so far this year.

Cox Media Group