Republished November 08, 2017 - 1:48 PM
Original Publication Date November 08, 2017 - 10:06 AM
FOREST PARK, Ga. - A man exchanged gunfire with two police officers, hitting and wounding both of them, and was later found dead behind a home south of Atlanta, police said.
Two officers responded at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday to a report of a man driving recklessly on a motorcycle and not wearing a helmet. When they tried to make contact, he fled on foot, Forest Park police said in a news release.
The man, later identified as 30-year-old James Jacob Bailey, ran behind a house, and the officers followed. As they rounded the corner of the house, they exchanged gunfire with Bailey and both officers were hit, police said.
Other officers arrived and once they had removed the wounded officers they set up a perimeter and began searching for Bailey. They found his body behind the house, dead from a gunshot wound, but it wasn't clear whether Bailey or the officers fired the shot that killed him, police Sgt. Kelli Flanigan said.
One officer suffered a non-life-threatening wound and the other was listed in critical condition, police said. Police are withholding the officers' names until their families have been contacted. Both officers have been with the Forest Park Police Department for about two years.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017