A man accused of shooting at an Atlanta police officer after a carjacking and brief chase Wednesday faces assault and traffic charges, authorities said.
Timothy Hood, 37, faces two counts of aggravated assault and one count of hijacking a motor vehicle after he carjacked his ex-girlfriend, Atlanta police Sgt. John Chafee said.
“Luckily,” Deputy Police Chief Jeff Glazier said at the shooting scene in southwest Atlanta, “the officer involved did everything he was supposed to do. His training kicked in.”
The incident began about 11:30 a.m. when Hood carjacked his ex-girlfriend in northwest Atlanta, then fired several shots at her as he left in her vehicle, Chafee said in an emailed statement.
An officer spotted the car and, after a brief chase, Hood crashed into a parked city pickup truck.
He got out of the car shooting and then was shot by the officer in the shoulder, arm and leg, Channel 2 Action News reported. The officer was not injured.
Officers then applied a tourniquet to Hood to help stop the bleeding. According to emergency workers at the scene, the officers’ actions likely saved the man’s life.
“Amazingly, after the suspect was shot and tried to kill our police officer, Atlanta police officers arrived and tried to save his life,” Glazier said.
Hood was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition.
The officer who fired the shots was not identified.
The driver of the vehicle the suspect hit complained of minor injuries and remained on scene, police said. The carjacking victim was not injured.
The GBI is investigating, which is standard with officer-involved shootings.
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