Police: Officer-involved shooting at DeKalb County gas station

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - An officer-involved shooting Wednesday night sent a suspect to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

It ended at the Chevron gas station on LaVista Road and Northlake Parkway in the Tucker area.

Eyewitness Michelle Figari told FOX 5 News the driver of a white sedan was fleeing from DeKalb County Police going eastbound on La Vista Road, striking several vehicles before his run came to end at the Chevron.

“He was really trying to get away and he backed up, hit the car behind, hit the car in front, tried to jump over on to the other side,” said Figari.

Investigators said the incident began at a Motel 6 along Lawrenceville Highway and Montreal Road, not from the Chevron, when a detective noticed the white car was vacant.

He was watching it because it had been connected to other crimes.

Major Jerry Lewis told FOX 5 News when the suspect got in his car he was approached by the detective on foot.

He said that’s when the driver tried to flee, striking the detective’s car and nearly hit the detective.

“He then struck a patrol vehicle and then he attempted to strike the detective at that time the detective fired several shots at the vehicle for fear of his life,” said Major Lewis.

He said the suspect, described as a black man in his 30’s, was struck once in the leg.

From the motel, Major Lewis said the man fled and eventually came to a stop at the Chevron as he was being pursued by other offices, about a fourth of a mile from DeKalb Police headquarters.

“Whatever it is he did he was very desperate and he wanted to get away. This was the wrong time, wrong town,” said Figari.

Major Lewis said the suspect was reported to be in stable condition at the hospital.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in for an independent investigation.

The detective nor any other officers were injured.