A week after being shot, South Fulton officer ‘walking with assistance’ in hospital
A South Fulton police lieutenant shot in the line of duty one week ago is “walking with assistance” in the hospital, a department spokesperson said Friday.
Lt. Charles Cook “is still in the hospital but making positive progress,” the department said.
Cook was one of two officers shot April 18 by a man suspected of jaywalking near the intersection of Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to investigators.
A Fulton County officer initiated a traffic stop with the man, later identified as 29-year-old Rashan Jarvis Cofield of Atlanta. Officers determined Cofield had an outstanding warrant, according to the GBI.
Cofield then started shooting at officers, striking Cook at least three times as he got out of his patrol car, according to investigators. Cook and a Fulton officer, identified as Zahir Muid, were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Officers returned fire, killing Cofield.
Muid was treated and released the same day. But Cook was critically injured and underwent emergency surgery, police previously said.
The shooting that injured the two officers happened three days after a South Fulton officer was killed in a head-on crash while on duty. Lt. Helio Garcia, 47, was the first South Fulton officer to die in the line of duty.
“It’s been a rough week,” South Fulton police Chief Keith Meadows said last week. “Things can change in an instant, and certainly we’re praying for Lt. Cook in his full recovery.”
The funeral for Garcia was held Monday in College Park.
The previous two weeks have been dangerous for those wearing the badge in metro Atlanta. On Thursday, a Fulton County deputy was shot in the line of duty, according to investigators.
