DEKALB COUNTY, Georgia — Two DeKalb County police officers were shot and wounded on Sunday evening, November 1, when a man allegedly opened fire on them at the door of an apartment they had been called to for a domestic incident on Bouldercrest Road SE, in the southeast Atlanta area of DeKalb County. Both officers were in stable condition on Sunday night, and the 26-year-old suspect was in custody and also in stable condition in hospital after a manhunt through nearby woods, Police Chief Greg Padrick said at a briefing.

Source: CNAW2 News

Chief Padrick said officers responded to the 2000 block of Bouldercrest Road SE at around 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday after a report of a domestic incident at an apartment complex there. Bouldercrest Road is one of the main corridors of southeast DeKalb County, lined with apartment complexes and businesses, and the 2000 block sits in the part of the county that blends into southeast Atlanta.

When the officers arrived and encountered a 26-year-old man at the door, the man allegedly opened fire on them, according to the chief. One officer returned fire. Two officers were struck by gunfire in the exchange at the doorway, Padrick said. Police have not said how many shots were fired, and they have not released the names of the injured officers.

The manhunt through the woods

After the shooting, the suspect fled on foot into a wooded area near the apartment complex, police said. Officers used the surveillance camera systems at the apartment complex to obtain a clear look at the suspect, and a lookout description was broadcast to units searching the area, according to Padrick's account reported by CNAW2 News.

The search ended with the man taken into custody. He had also been shot — 11Alive's sources confirmed that two officers and the suspect were all shot before the suspect was arrested after the manhunt — and he was transported to a hospital, where he was reported in stable condition. WSB-TV Channel 2 reported at 8:25 p.m. on Sunday that there was a 'very active and evolving' police presence outside the DeKalb County apartment complex at 2000 Bouldercrest Road while the operation continued.

Source: 11Alive (YouTube)

What the chief said

Chief Greg Padrick, who briefed reporters on Sunday evening, asked the community to keep the injured officers in their thoughts and prayers as they recover. He confirmed the basic sequence — a domestic call, an encounter at the door, gunfire, a flight into the woods and an arrest — and said the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.

What is not yet known

As of the Sunday night briefing, police had not released the suspect's name, the charges he will face, the names of the two officers, or what led to the domestic call in the first place. Police also have not said what the officers found inside the apartment, whether anyone else was inside, or how the suspect was wounded during the exchange and the manhunt. Those details are expected in later updates, and any account of the man's actions remains an allegation until it is tested in court.

Why a doorway call turned so dangerous, so fast

The shooting underlines a risk officers and residents across metro Atlanta know well: a domestic call can turn violent in the first seconds, at the door, before officers have any picture of what is happening inside a home. On Sunday that risk played out in a crowded residential setting — an apartment complex on a main road, on a Sunday evening, with neighbours close by — and it took a camera-assisted manhunt through the woods behind the complex to end it. No other injuries were reported in the accounts published on Sunday night.

What happens next

The DeKalb County Police Department's investigation is continuing. The next steps to watch are the formal identification of the suspect and the announcement of charges, updates on the two officers' recovery, and any further briefing from Chief Padrick's department on what happened inside and outside the apartment. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as those confirmed details are released.