Cobb County

Suicidal man shot after pointing gun at officers trying to help him, police say

SMYRNA, Ga. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into an officer-involved shooting at an apartment complex in Cobb County.

Smyrna police say they responded to the Edison at the Battery apartments on N. Lincoln Trace Ave. Saturday afternoon to calls of a man threatening suicide inside an apartment with several other people.

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Police say the man was holding a gun while officers tried to deescalate the situation. At some point, the man pointed his gun at the officers and a Smryna police officer shot him.

Immediately after the shooting, officers began administering first aid.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital where he is currently in surgery.

“In a nanosecond, he changed the dynamics of the situation, pointing the weapon at us, putting our life in danger,” said Lieutenant Louis Defense with the Smyrna Police Department.

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Residents of the complex say they could not believe what they heard.

““It was just like boom, boom boom, it was so loud it was so scary, it was horrific it was horrible,” a resident who did not want to be identified told Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln.

That same resident said that police went around the complex banging on doors telling everyone to get out of the building.

The apartment complex where the shooting took place is located near Truist Park. The Atlanta Braves are not scheduled to play there Saturday.

Smyrna police say this was their first officer-involved shooting of 2021.

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