Police in South Georgia opened fire on a vehicle carrying a car break-in suspect during a chase over the weekend, officials said Wednesday.
Hahira officers on Sunday were attempting to arrest two teenagers who were suspected of breaking into several cars in the city, located about 30 miles north of the Florida border, according to the GBI.
While one of the suspects was arrested, another ran away and was found near Hall Road and Old U.S. 41 North. The teenager was seen getting into a white Dodge Challenger after calling a relative to pick him up, the state agency said.
“As the driver of the Dodge Challenger attempted to flee from the area, he drove towards an officer and two civilian witnesses standing nearby before making a U-turn to attempt to escape,” the GBI said. “During the encounter, one officer fired multiple shots, hitting the Dodge Challenger.”
Soon after, an officer blocked the vehicle’s path and the driver was detained without incident. Officials interviewed him but said he has not been charged with any crimes at this time. No one was injured during the incident.
“Juvenile complaints were taken against the two teens by Hahira PD,” said Jamy Steinberg, the GBI special agent in charge.
The names of the driver and both teenagers were not released.
Sunday’s incident was the first officer-involved shooting the state agency has been asked to investigate in 2024.
It’s not the first officer-involved shooting of the year, however. Gwinnett police said officers on Tuesday shot a man after he fired at them, but said the GBI was not asked to investigate because the man’s injuries were not life-threatening. The police department’s deadly force investigative team will handle that probe.
At this point last year, the GBI had opened investigations into five officer-involved shootings.
Anyone with information on the Hahira case is asked to call the GBI, which will conduct an investigation into the shooting before turning over those findings to the Lowndes County District Attorney’s Office for review.
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