ATLANTA — Police are investigating a shooting that left an officer slightly wounded and a suspect dead just blocks from Piedmont Park.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers were called to the 200 block of 11th Street in Midtown to reports of a person firing a gun in the area.
As the first officer arrived, authorities said the suspect fired at him, grazing him in the head.
The officer returned fire, killing suspect, police said. The suspect was identified as William Simpkins, also known as El Shaddai Dion Simpkins, 39, of Atlanta.
The officer was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital to be checked out. He sustained a non-life threatening injury and is expected to be treated and released.
A second officer, who said he felt pain in his foot, is believed to have also been grazed by a bullet during the shooting.
Abby Downs, who lives in the area, said she was walking this morning when she saw officers speed onto Piedmont Road and then pull out their guns on someone down the street.
“They started shooting down Piedmont toward the Botanical Gardens,” Downs said.
Downs said she heard shots fire back toward the officers.
After the shooting stopped, Downs said she saw someone being taken into an ambulance.
The area was shut down for hours as authorities investigated.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the officer-involved shooting. It is the 21st shooting they’ve been called to investigate this year.