LF: Atlanta cop critically wounded, a homeowner shot and dog killed in shootout after police 'went to the wrong address to investigate burglary'

Title: Atlanta cop critically wounded, a homeowner shot and dog killed in shootout after police 'went to the wrong address to investigate burglary'
Source: Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... hot-circumstances-unclear.html
Published: Aug 31, 2015
Author: Darrein Boyle
Post Date: 2015-09-01 09:18:04 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 1924
Comments: 16

Authorities say an Atlanta-area police officer was shot and critically wounded when officers responded to a call of a suspicious person and showed up at the wrong house.

DeKalb Police Chief Cedric Alexander said three officers responded Monday night. The officers entered the home from the rear, identified themselves and one of the officers was shot in the leg.

Alexander says the officer lost a lot of blood and is in critical condition at a hospital.

Police in Atlanta, pictured, have launched an investigation after one of their officers was shot after responding to reports of a suspicious person by entering the wrong home on Monday night

One of the officers was shot in the leg as was the homeowner. The home owner's dog was killed in the firefight

The homeowner was also shot in the leg and the homeowner's dog was killed.

It's not clear yet who fired the shots. Alexander says the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to investigate.

The shooting happened in a neighbourhood about 5 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Police received what is being described as a 'vague' call about a burglary in progress when officers responded.

Alexander said the officers identified themselves before entering the house.

The officer was undergoing emergency surgery after losing 'a lot of blood' after being hit in the thigh.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is going to handle the investigation.

The seriously wounded officer, who has not been named, is being treated in the Grady Memorial Hospital.

Alexander told NBC what the caller only gave a partial description of the property under threat claiming it was a 'grey brick house'.

Officers were not given a street number.

He added: 'Shortly after that, within a matter of moments, gunfire took place.'

The officer and the home owner were both shot in the leg, while the pet dog was fatally wounded.

He continued: 'A lot is yet to be determined here as to what [happened] and when shots were fired, how the officer received injuries, how the homeowner received injuries. But we did respond to the wrong residence tonight.'

Alexander admitted that it was not clear whether the homeowner had a gun, describing the situation as 'complicated'.

Three officers responded to a house that fitted the description of the home supplied by the 911 caller.

They went around to the rear of the property and discovered the rear door and screen door were unlocked.

He said: 'That in and of itself would probably suggest to anyone that it is possible that there could be intruders inside, but it turned out not to be the case. 'Somewhere at the rear of that home, some things happened that have yet to be determined."

The officers had just entered the home when the gunfire erupted.

He continued: 'There was gunfire, I just cannot tell you who fired and who did not.'

An officer was shot in the leg and lost a lot of blood. He was rushed to the hospital and was undergoing surgery. The homeowner was also taken to the hospital.

The homeowner's girlfriend was at the home at the time of the shooting and called 911.

Derek Perez told The Associated Press that he reported the suspicious person. He said he was walking his dog when he saw a man knock on a neighbour's door and then just stand in the yard. He said he then heard a loud noise, a dog barking and didn't see the man anymore. There had been break-ins in the neighborhood recently, so he called 911, he said.

Just as he was about to go into his house, he heard the gunshots, but they didn't come from the house where he had reported the suspicious person.

Police were still investigating whether there was a burglary at the home where the suspicious person was spotted.

All three officers have been placed on administrative leave.

The shooting happened in a neighborhood about 5 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Tama Colson was finishing an evening walk when she saw the police cars speed into her neighborhood. As she approached her home she heard a loud "pop-pop-pop" and saw her neighbors fleeing into their yard two houses down.

"They shot me and they shot my dog!" one neighbor yelled as his wife ran screaming, according to Colson.

The shooters were DeKalb County police officers who were dispatched Monday night to check out a possible burglary reported at a southeast Atlanta home, authorities said. The officers went to the wrong house. The consequences were bloody.

Authorities said Tuesday the responding officers shot homeowner Christopher McKinley, killed his dog and "likely" shot a fellow officer, Travis Jones, leaving him seriously wounded.

Lacking an exact address for the one-story home, the officers were sent in the dark to a neighborhood where many houses look similar.

Three officers found a home they thought matched a description provided by a 911 caller, but were unable to make contact with anyone inside, according to a statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They entered the home through an unlocked rear door and two officers fired their guns at a dog, killing it.

McKinley, 36, was also shot in the leg by police, GBI officials said. Jones was shot in the hip and listed in serious condition at Grady Memorial Hospital. The GBI released the names of the two wounded men Tuesday evening.

"Early investigation indicates that the injured officer was likely shot accidentally by one of the other officers on the scene," GBI officials said in a statement.

However, GBI spokesman Scott Dutton said it was too early to determine exactly who fired the gunshots. Dutton said he did not know if anyone in the home was armed besides the police. GBI officials said there is no evidence residents there had committed any crimes.

McKinley returned home early Tuesday, limping and wearing hospital scrubs, but declined to comment.

Colson told The Associated Press that McKinley had a bullet wound a couple of inches above his right knee and was asking: "Why did they come in my house? Why did they shoot me? Why did they shoot my dog?"

She said she knelt beside him in the yard and used a shirt to staunch the bleeding as he told her what happened.

"He told me they were in the house watching television when they heard something in the backyard," Colson said. "The husband gets up to check, opens the door and he just sees shooting. He gets hit and his dog is dead."

Derek Perez told The AP that he reported the suspicious person, but at a different house from the one police entered. He said he was walking his dog when he saw a man knock on a neighbor's door and then just stand in the yard. He said he then heard a loud noise, a dog barking and didn't see the man anymore. There had been break-ins in the neighborhood recently, so he called 911, he said.

Bob Gilman, who lives nearby, said he heard police sirens Monday night, went outside and saw his neighbor sitting on the driveway, wounded. Gilman said police officers escorted him away before he could ask what had happened. He was stunned that officers had opened fire.

The wounded man's dog, a brindle boxer, was large, playful and would run up to people. Gilman said the dog never attacked others. The wounded man's home had been hit by previous break-ins, and the man told Gilman that he owned a shotgun and a handgun.

DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander said his agency would normally investigate a non-fatal shooting. But given the complicated circumstances, he said he asked the GBI to lead the probe involving his own officers' actions.

Alexander acknowledged Monday night that DeKalb County officers responded to the wrong home. All three officers — identified by the GBI as Jones, Quhanna Lloyd and Timothy Harden — have been placed on administrative leave.

Police officers have mistakenly forced their way inside homes before in Atlanta, at least once with deadly consequences. In 2006, Atlanta police officers killed a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid at her house.

Yeah, I keep my shit locked up after a certain time... it's foolish in today's day and age to make it easy to enter and remain, unlawfully.