A teenager who was shot by police while fleeing arrest Friday was later found hiding in a shed in a South Georgia yard, the GBI said.
The incident began after Quitman police officers were notified about a shooting along North Quincy Street. The GBI said someone shot at a vehicle multiple times while several people were inside.
Police eventually spotted a vehicle tied to the shooting driving through Quitman, a small city near Valdosta with a population of about 4,000, and attempted to pull it over. The driver continued on their route for a short distance before a front-seat passenger, identified as 18-year-old Brian Williams jumped out and ran off, the GBI said.
An officer also jumped out of their patrol vehicle and chased the suspect while attempting to arrest him.
“Initial reports are the suspect dropped an item on two separate occasions while running and stopped to retrieve it and appeared to hide it in his waistband and then kept running,” the GBI stated, but did not confirm if the suspect was armed during the pursuit.
Witnesses told officials that the officer gave Williams commands to stop and get down, but the GBI said he did not obey. At some point, the agency said an officer shot at the suspect several times, striking him at least once.
Williams continued to flee and was later found hiding in a shed. He was arrested, but the GBI did not say what charges he is facing. The suspect was taken to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening. No officers were injured during the incident.
It was the 18th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate this year. At this time last year, the state agency had investigated 29 such shootings.
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