A Polk County man was shot and killed Tuesday after threatening to shoot himself and pointing a gun at a police officer, GBI officials said.
Derick Rock, 30, had been threatening suicide before the arrival of police to a home on Walnut Street in Aragon, a small town about 50 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, according to the GBI. An Aragon officer found Rock standing at the door about 6 p.m. with a gun to his head, the state agency said in a news release.
“The officer gave verbal commands to Rock for him to drop the weapon,” spokesperson Nelly Miles said in the release. “Rock pointed the weapon at the officer and the officer fired multiple times at Rock, hitting Rock.”
The officer attempted first aid, according to the GBI, but the Aragon man died at the scene. It was the eighth officer-involved shooting the state agency has investigated this year and the fifth to result in a death.
The case will be turned over to the Polk County District Attorney’s Office once the independent investigation is complete, the GBI said.
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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