Police sergeant ID’d as suspect in alleged DeKalb murder-suicide

The suspect in an alleged murder-suicide in DeKalb County on Friday night has been identified as a police sergeant in Georgia, authorities said Sunday.

Michael Durieux, 38, a reserve sergeant with the Fort Valley Police Department, is accused of killing 37-year-old Christian Chestnut in Panthersville following an argument. He then allegedly fled the scene and took his own life after crashing near I-20, DeKalb police said. Their bodies were found about a half-mile apart.

“(Durieux) was off duty at the time of the incident and was operating his personal vehicle,” DeKalb police spokesman Lt. Shane Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

On Friday, officers were called around 7:20 p.m. to the 3000 block of Rainbow Drive, where they found Chestnut dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Witnesses told police that a man involved in the incident left the scene. The driver was then involved in a wreck on Candler Road near I-20 and “took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” officers stated.

According to police, Chestnut was targeted by Durieux, and a verbal fight led to the shooting. Fort Valley police did not respond to requests for more information.

The incident remains under investigation.