A woman wants to know why police shot her 16-year-old son Thursday night at a gas station in northwest Atlanta.
About 8:15 p.m., police tried to pull over a stolen white Astro van, but the driver sped away and crashed into a tree, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The driver jumped out of the van, ran toward the BP gas station in the 1400 block of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and an officer chased the driver to the back of the gas station, police said.
“At some point during the encounter,” Atlanta police Major Adam Lee III told Channel 2, “[the officer] discharged his weapon.”
The driver, Lee said, was struck at least once in the shoulder area. The officer also received injuries to his knee.
“He didn’t have a weapon on him for them to have to shoot him,” said Angel Jackson, the driver’s mother. She identified the teen as Johnny Morris Jr.
Lee said police were still investigating if the driver was unarmed.
“We don’t know that at this time,” he told Channel 2.
The officer, whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital for treatment. His condition was not known.
Jackson said her son was in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, but she has not been allowed to see him. However, she said a nurse told her Morris was shot three times, including once in the chest.
“I don’t know what happened,” Jackson told Channel 2. “All I know is a girl pulled up to the house and told me my son just got shot up here at the BP.”
Police are checking surveillance footage and asking any witnesses to the incident to come forward.
About the Author
