Wounded Union City Police recovering
UNION CITY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A police officer wounded in a Monday evening shooting that left an aspiring rapper dead will undergo a second surgery Tuesday, Union City Police said.
App users: View full article here
In a Tuesday afternoon news release, Union City Police said Officer Jerome Turner Jr. will undergo the second surgery at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital to remove shrapnel from his knee.
According to the release, Officer Turner underwent a successful surgery Monday evening.
Late into the evening, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation surrounded a home at the center of the crime scene and continued to interview neighbors and witnesses.
The incident happened along High Point Road near the South Fulton-Union City line. South Fulton Police confirmed the shooting happened before 6:30 p.m.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents told FOX 5 News that Turner was dispatched to the neighborhood to follow up on the report of a fight. Once the officer arrived, he radioed dispatch that a suspect, identified as 19-year-old Veltavious T. Griggs, was fleeing and brandished a gun.
Once backup arrived, they found Turner wounded and Griggs deceased. Turner had been shot multiple times and was talking. Police have not said what happened between the officer and the subject prior to other officers' arrival, but they say they did locate a gun that didn't belong to the officer.
Medics transported Turner to Grady Memorial Hospital where he has had surgery.
Shantrina Griggs, the mother of Veltaious Griggs, rushed to Grady to ask for answers.
"What made the police shoot my child," Griggs asked.
Griggs told FOX 5 her son had been in trouble with the law in the past but says he turned his life around and recently had been signed to a rap record label.
"He started going to the studio, started doing good by me, telling me 'Mama, I'm not bad no more," she said.
According to Griggs, Veltavious left her home only 10 minutes before the shooting, which she said happened in the yard of the mother of his child.
The crime scene shut down both sides of High Point road for hours, keeping people stuck in traffic and dozens in the streets and out of their homes.
In the Tuesday news release, the Union City Police Department expressed a sincere thank you for all of the thoughts, well wishes, and prayers extended after the shooting.