A suspected car thief shot himself Wednesday while fleeing Fulton County police, Detective Melissa Parker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“When officers approached the house, the suspects fled out the back and they were in a foot pursuit,” Parker said. “One of the first people out the back dropped a weapon and suspected drugs, and one of the last people to exit the house picked up the gun and fired a round off and accidentally shot himself.
“I don’t know where he was pointing it or if he was running too fast and didn’t know what he was doing.”
Police arrested the wounded man and are searching for others who escaped, Parker said.
The police ended up in the neighborhood near College Park when a theft victim reported to 911 he had trailed some men who had stolen his car to the neighborhood, Parker said.
Initial reports were a Fulton County police SWAT team was sent to a neighborhood after shots were fired at officers late Wednesday morning, but Parker said it was now unclear whether officers had been fired upon.
Channel 2 Action News reported earlier Wednesday that police followed a stolen vehicle to Vernier Drive, and several suspects bailed from the car in the neighborhood off Roosevelt Highway.
An employee at nearby Feldwood Elementary School told The AJC that the school was on a “soft lockdown” and that the students were safe.
Police have not yet released the name of the arrested man. No other details were immediately available.
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