Atlanta Police officers gunned down an armed man who refused to comply with commands and ran onto a freeway while brandishing a knife.
The incident occurred at around 1 a.m. Thursday after the 39-year-old man boarded a Greyhound bus and stabbed a passenger.
Officers responded to the stabbing to find out that the suspect had left the bus and was running on Interstate 75 south of downtown Atlanta while armed with a knife.
“What then played out was a protected effort to de-escalate the situation,” Police Chief Dain Schierbaum said adding that the suspect ignored officers’ commands.
The officers used stun guns and pepper spray but couldn’t stop the suspect who then “moved towards officers aggressively.”
Five officers fired at the man who succumbed to his injuries at Grady Memorial Hospital.
“This is never the outcome the Atlanta Police Department wants. We want there to be safe and peaceful resolutions to all these encounters, and I think the actions of the officers from the time they were dispatched until weapons had to be discharged shows that this was not their desire either.”
