Ga. cop shot after police go to wrong house

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WXIA-TV, Atlanta 12:53 a.m. EDT September 1, 2015

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A police officer was shot while responding to a burglary in progress call in Dekalb County, Georgia, according to authorities. VPC

A DeKalb County police officer was shot on Monday, authorities said.(Photo: 11Alive)

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County police officer was shot Monday evening after police went to the wrong house responding to a burglary call, authorities said.

Officers received a vague location for the burglary in progress call and when they arrived in the neighborhood around 7:35 p.m. ET they entered the wrong home, according to DeKalb County Public Safety Director Dr. Cedric Alexander. Gunshots were fired and both an officer and the homeowner were struck, Alexander said. The homeowner's dog was killed.

“We did respond to the wrong residence tonight and then these other circumstances unfolded,” he said.

Alexander called the situation complicated. Officers fired their weapons, the chief said, but it’s not clear if the homeowner had a gun.

Alexander said the situation happened like this: A neighborhood resident called 911 at 7:34 p.m. to report a suspicious person and described a home to the dispatcher. Three officers responded to a house that fit the description the caller gave 911. The officers went to the back of the home and found that a screen door and a rear door were unlocked.

“That in and of itself would probably suggest to anyone that it is possible that there could be intruders inside, but it turned out not to be the case,” Alexander said. “Somewhere at the rear of that home, some things happened that have yet to be determined.”

The officers had just entered the home when the gunfire erupted.

“There was gunfire, I just cannot tell you who fired and who did not,” he said.

The injured officer was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition after losing "a lot of blood" from being shot in the thigh, Alexander said. He was headed into surgery as of 8:45 p.m.

The homeowner was shot in the leg and the homeowner's dog was killed, police said at the scene.

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Alexander said he has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation of the incident. Alexander said his department would typically handle the investigation since it did not involve a fatality, but because of the unusual situation, he asked the GBI to look into it.

Police were still investigating whether there was a burglary at the home where the suspicious person was spotted.

All three officers have been placed on administrative leave.

The shooting happened in a neighborhood about 5 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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