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Gas station owner shares video of deadly shooting involving officers
An exclusively obtained video is shining new light on what happened in a DeKalb county gas station parking lot this weekend. The GBI is investigating Saturday’s officer-involved shooting along Candler Road. Both the GBI and DeKalb County police agree it started with a man walking on the interstate but two reports contain two different accounts of the moments leading up to the shooting.
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is trying to determine what lead up to a fatal officer-involved shooting Saturday at a DeKalb County gas station parking lot.
The shooting happened Saturday at the Shell gas station on the 2700 block of Candler Road.
"The cops were firing like crazy," a gas station employee told FOX 5.
FOX 5 has obtained an exclusive video, which some may find disturbing to watch, that shows the moments several officers fired their guns at a man who appears to be in the back of their patrol car.
"They keep firing for almost a minute or a minute and a half and that’s a lot of times to fire at one bad guy that was in the back of the police car," the employee said.
According to DeKalb County police, the officers got a call of a suspicious man, later identified as 33-year-old Christian Smith, walking along Interstate 20.
DeKalb police said officers brought the man to a gas station parking lot on Candler Road near South DeKalb Mall. Officials said Smith pulled out a gun and that’s what prompted officers to fire their weapons killing the man.
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Investigation into what led to an officer-involved shooting in DeKalb County
New video might help clarify the two narratives that emerged following a deadly officer-involved shooting at a Candler Road gas station on Saturday.
In a later statement from the GBI, officers took Smith to the gas station then later learned he had an active warrant for his arrest.
According to this account of the story, during the process of arresting Smith, officers discharged their weapons shooting him.
Investigators go on to report a gun was later located by Smith’s body.
The video shows the moment the police car pulled into the parking lot and later an officer went inside.
The gas station manager said the officer got water for the person inside the car.
"She went over there and I saw her open the back door for him and all of a sudden the firing started," the employee said.
There are two clear angles of the shooting and you can see what looks like two officers firing at the back of the patrol car and a third pointing their gun.
"I saw those cops backing up with the guns in their hands. Then I realized they were shooting and I went to the door and locked it," the employee said.
There were visible bullet holes all over the patrol car while the GBI was at the scene conducting their investigation.
Officials said no officers were injured in the shooting.
FOX 5 reached out to both the GBI and DeKalb County police about the two different narratives. Neither offered clarification, but DeKalb police did say there is an internal investigation underway.
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