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Off-duty Atlanta cop carjacked by suspect with assault rifle
The cop was robbed in traffic on Moreland Avenue. A retired Atlanta homicide and robbery detective provided his take on the incident.
ATLANTA - A man approached an off-duty Atlanta police officer sitting in traffic in Little Five Points on Saturday evening, pointed an an AR-15 rifle at him, and made off with his car.
It happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The officer, whose name has not been released, was driving along Moreland Avenue. He had just stopped for traffic at the light at Mansfield Avenue when the gunman approached and carjacked him.
"And it’s very unusual for somebody to come out of a car and carjack somebody with a long rifle, an assault weapon," said retired Atlanta officer Vincent Velazquez. "So, that’s got to be shocking, but that also tells you that this person means business."
The officer quickly surrendered his 2019 Dodge Charger to the gunman.
"This police officer did exactly what he should done," Velazquez said. "He cooperated, he didn’t try to engage the suspect, even if he did, we may be talking at this point about an officer killed."
The officer quickly called 911.
The car was found less than an hour later down the road just south of Glenwood Avenue.
"If this car was abandoned 45 minutes later, it tells me this perpetrator realized who he had just carjacked was a police officer and he probably at that point thought that all resources were going to be devoted to finding this car," and like most police officers there’s sometimes things in your vehicle that identify you as police officer. It could have been a receipt or a memo from the police department it could be a clothing items, a uniform shirt, something of that nature."
The car was processed by crime scene investigators, checking for fingerprints and other evidence.
The officer was not injured during the carjacking.
Police have not yet identified a suspect in the case, but continue to investigate.