The GBI is investigating after an Atlanta police officer fired shots at someone in a vehicle early Thursday morning, the state agency said.
The shooting happened just after midnight outside a food mart in the 1000 block of McDaniel Street in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of southwest Atlanta.
Atlanta police officers were initially called to the area to check out suspected drug deals near the Big 4 Discount Supermarket. When they arrived, they encountered two people, GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said.
One person reportedly ran from the officers, while the other jumped into a vehicle and tried to drive away.
“Early information indicates that the vehicle may have struck one of the officers,” Ammons said in a statement. “That officer discharged their firearm, striking the vehicle.”
Pursuing officers found the vehicle abandoned a short distance away on Gardner Street.
It it unknown if the driver was struck by the gunfire, Ammons said. No officers were injured.
Abbas Hassan, a clerk at the food mart, said he heard the gunshots but did not leave his post. Hassan said he was warned by his boss to “stay inside at any cost” when working the night shift.
“It was a continuous, six to seven shots,” he said.
The store has nearly three dozen surveillance cameras both inside and in the parking lot. Hassan expects the footage will be turned over to authorities.
The GBI has opened 51 investigations into shootings involving police officers or sheriff’s deputies since Jan. 1. Thursday morning’s incident makes 52.
OVER THE LINE: Police shootings in Georgia
INTERACTIVE MAP: Georgia's officer-involved shootings under GBI investigation
At this rate, the agency is on pace to pass the 88 officer-involved shooting investigations in 2017, according to the GBI.
RELATED: Georgia on pace to double deadly officer-involved shootings in 2018
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