A Clayton County officer was shot in the arm Friday morning when he shined his flashlight on an apartment patio door during a search for a shooting suspect.
The occupants of the apartment, who were not involved in the initial shooting incident, assumed the officer was trying to break in, according to Clayton County police Chief Kevin Roberts. The injured officer was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and released the same day.
He was identified by Channel 2 Action News as Lt. William Lee. The officer told the news station a bullet entered his left forearm, exited his bicep and hit his vest on his left side.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Officers were called to investigate gunfire at the Fieldstone Glen Apartments off Mount Zion and Fieldstone parkways about 4 a.m., Roberts said. A man told the officers he was involved in a dispute with a gunman, who fired shots.
No one was injured by that first round of gunfire, the chief said. The officers then began searching the complex for the gunman, and their search took them to a patio on the back of a dark apartment building.
“Due to darkness, one of our officers shined his flashlight at that patio door, and immediately upon panning that flashlight, he sustained gunfire and received one shot to his arm," Roberts said.
They conducted interviews with the occupants of the apartment Friday morning before announcing charges against LaShonda Person.
Person, 49, was arrested on two counts of reckless conduct. She was booked into the Clayton County Jail.
“They definitely thought someone was trying to gain entry, is what their initial response was,” Roberts said. “Our officers were not anywhere near the patio door, they were just searching with flashlights.”
Lee said he wants to return to work once he’s healed. He holds no ill will for the woman accused of shooting him.
“I’m not mad at her," he told Channel 2. “I just hope she learns from this as well, because fortunately it was me and not some kid, you know, looking for a lost puppy.”
The person who fired the first round of shots was never located. A police spokeswoman said investigators found evidence of a gun being fired in the breezeway of one of the apartment buildings.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
