SMYRNA, Ga. — Two Georgia police officers were wounded and a man was killed during a shooting at a suburban Atlanta store that bills itself as the world’s largest gun store.
Smyrna Police Chief Keith Zgonc said officers were investigating reports of shots fired and a burglary in progress around midnight when they found the suspect at Adventure Outdoors, which stocks more than 18,000 guns.
“When officers arrived, they encountered an armed gunman who was inside the store … gunfire erupted between the gunman and officers at the scene,” wounding the two officers and killing the suspect, Zgonc said.
Police have not released the names of the deceased suspect or the officers, who Zgonc said were hospitalized and expected to survive.
“We’re not sure what his reasoning was for breaking into the store,” Zgonc said, noting that police believe he acted alone.
Cobb County officers were also at the scene and shot at the suspect, but Zgonc did not say which of the officers shot the man or how many shots were fired.
Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said a large number of his officers arrived to support Smyrna police because of the uncertainty of the situation.
“There’s going to be a lot of police officers when one of their comrades gets hurt,” VanHoozer said. “We don’t know what we have, we don’t know how many suspects we have … we know they’re in a gun shop with lots of guns.”