A 78-year-old man was killed by South Fulton police officers Tuesday evening after he allegedly fired at them as they responded to a sexual assault call, authorities said.
Officers got the call around 7 p.m. and were sent to the 4400 block of Roosevelt Highway, just outside Union City. There, they met with a woman who said she was shot at by a man identified as Fred Claud Perkins of Riverdale, according to the GBI. The woman told police that Perkins also hit her with his gun.
The GBI did not clarify if Perkins was the suspect in the alleged sexual assault.
Officers eventually learned that Perkins was near a shed on the property, the GBI said. They found him in that area, armed with a shotgun. That’s when he fired at officers, and they returned fire, the state agency said. Perkins then retreated into the shed, and officers later found him dead inside.
No officers were injured.
The GBI will conduct its independent investigation, and once complete, the case file will be given to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review.
It was the 94th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2023. By this same time last year, there had been 107.
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