Gwinnett Police have identified a teenager who was slightly wounded in a confrontation with police Tuesday.
Atiba Hunter, 16 of Atlanta, was treated by paramedics for a graze wound from a bullet and released back to authorities, Cpl. Deon Washington said.
Washington said police tried to stop Hunter and a confederate during a car break in and the two tried to flee in a vehicle that hit three officers. The officers were treated at a hospital, with the most serious injury possibly being a broken foot. The other two officers received minor injuries .
Hunter has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault on a law-enforcement officer and two counts of theft and one count of illegally entering an automobile, Washington said.
Police still have not caught Hunter’s partner despite a search with police dogs and helicopters over a two-mile radius, Washington said.
Officers responding to a 2 a.m. suspicious person call in the area of Gray Raptor Court observed two men entering a vehicle, Washington said.
“The officers approached the suspects on foot and a short foot pursuit ensued,” Washington told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The suspects ran to a vehicle, got into that vehicle and ended up striking one of the officers. After they struck that officer, they abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot for approximately one hour.”
Washington said police later received another suspicious person call reporting that two men were checking additional vehicles. They “ultimately located a second car,” he said.
Police spotted the suspects in an SUV, which turned onto a dead end street. The suspects turned around in a cul-de-sac and drove toward two officers who were outside their vehicle, hitting both officers as the officers fired shots at the suspects, according to Washington.
“The suspects wrecked their vehicle at the intersection of High Point Road and Springdale Drive,” Washington said. “One of the suspects was apprehended a short time later, and one suspect is still unaccounted for.”
— Staff photographer Bob Andres contributed to this article.
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