2 Georgia officers shot while serving warrant: report

Two central Georgia police officers were shot and wounded early Monday while serving a search warrant in Crawford County, according to a new report.

The pair, part of a multi-jurisdiction drug task force, returned fire and killed a suspect, The Associated Press said.

{mosads}

Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Special Agent in Charge J.T. Ricketson said the task force visited a home around 2:30 a.m.

“They knocked on the back door and announced their presence and that they were performing a search warrant,” he said of the residence on state Highway 42. “No one responded so they gained entry through the back door. As the officers were entering inside the residence an occupant inside the residence fired at least one round. It may be more.

“Those officers returned fire after they were fired upon. I don’t know how many rounds they fired. We will be determining that. One subject was struck and he is actually deceased.”

Ricketson said both officers work at the Byron Police Department and have since been taken to a hospital in Macon. One was treated and released, while the other was in surgery early Monday.

“[Their injuries are] serious but not life threatening,” he said of the officers, whose names were not released.

Ricketson described the suspect as a 35-year-old white man believed to have been the subject of the search warrant. The man’s name was not provided.

The suspect’s girlfriend and an infant about one month old were also present, he added, but neither was harmed during the incident.

GBI agents have locked down the scene and are now securing search warrants for the man’s residence, according to the AP.

The AP added violence against Georgia police is rampant this year, with at least seven officers shot and killed in the line of duty this year.