Tips pour in after cops circulate photo of man wanted in GSU shootout

Georgia State University police have received several tips after releasing a photo of a man they say shot at officers near a campus housing complex before attempting to carjack a student’s vehicle.

“We’ve got several leads that we’re following up on right now,” university police Chief Joseph Spillane told AJC.com on Tuesday. “We anticipate that we’ll have him identified pretty quickly.”

The man’s alleged actions Sunday night prompted a brief lockdown of the downtown Atlanta campus and rattled students hours before the start of the fall semester.

According to police, four officers responded to suspected drug activity in a stairwell in the parking deck of the University Commons housing complex on Piedmont Avenue about 10:45 p.m.

They encountered two people, a man and a 54-year-old woman, and the man ran from the scene, he said. A third person also ran from officers, but police later determined he was not involved in the incident.

During the pursuit, the gunman “fired several shots at an officer while a chase ensued,” Spillane said. Two officers returned fire, but no one was hit during the exchange, according to police.

Later, student Cairah Finley said she was sitting in her car with a friend when a man with a gun tried to pull her out.

“And he opened the car door and started grabbing my wrist and he had a gun in his hand,” she told Channel 2 Action News. “I was just grabbing back, and my friend just jumped out the car. But he saw the cops pull up and he just ran.”

Spillane said body camera footage suggests the shooter and the would-be car thief are the same man.

“At this point, we don’t have any reason to believe he was affiliated” with the university, he said.

Credit: John Spink/AJC WSB-TV

After reviewing surveillance footage, investigators learned the man and the woman entered the stairwell through a door left propped open. The door does not have a handle from the outside, Spillane said.

While the man took off, the woman stayed to speak with police, he said. She was cited for trespassing on university property, but will not be criminally charged, according to police.

The woman’s photo was also released as a person of interest.

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Chelsea Prince