A northeast Georgia sheriff’s deputy was wounded in a shootout Tuesday morning in a motel parking lot, the second shooting in 24 hours to injure a law enforcement officer in the state.
The Banks County deputy, a female kidnapping victim and the suspected shooter were all taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds, according to the GBI. While the deputy has been treated and released, the suspect and the woman were still undergoing treatment, the state agency said late Tuesday.
Their conditions are unknown.
According to officials, gunfire was exchanged in the parking lot of a Super 8 in the Commerce area, located off I-85 about 70 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
“While on routine patrol, deputies spotted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in Banks Crossing,” the Banks County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. “It is believed that the deputies identified a person of interest in an out-of-state kidnapping.”
Deputies looked into the vehicle and found Robert Brodie, 32, of Henderson, North Carolina, and a woman asleep in the backseat. After running the car’s license plate, they discovered Brodie was wanted out of North Carolina on a kidnapping charge, according to the GBI. The woman was later identified as the kidnapping victim.
“The deputies attempted to wake the people in the car,” GBI spokesperson Natalie Ammons said in a news release. “The man in the car (later identified as Brodie) pulled out a gun and shot the woman. Brodie and two deputies exchanged gunfire. Brodie was shot several times and one of the deputies was also shot.”
The deputy was shot in the hand and vest, the sheriff’s office said. The Banks agency is expected to bring charges against Brodie once he is released from the hospital, according to Ammons.
The incident was the 11th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year. It comes hours after an Atlanta police officer was shot multiple times Monday afternoon while attempting to arrest a man on robbery and other charges.
Christian Eppinger, a 22-year-old known gang member, was taken into custody in the Old Hapeville Road area shortly after the shooting, according to Atlanta police Deputy Chief Darin Schierbaum.
The wounded officer, 11-year department veteran David Rodgers, is recovering at Grady Memorial Hospital and is said to be stable.
“This department will not be deterred,” Schierbaum told reporters from Monday’s shooting scene. “What happened today is the challenge that we are against here in Atlanta and in cities across the country. Police officers are being assaulted at record levels across the country.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
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