Last night in the southeast Atlanta area, a DeKalb County Police Officer was shot while responding to a 911 call. In addition to the officer, who has not been identified, the homeowner was shot in the leg and his dog was killed. Unfortunately, this was a case of the wrong address.

Three officers were responding to a report of suspicious person, but instead went to the wrong home in the 1500 block of Boulderwoods Drive, near Bouldercrest Road, Cedric Alexander, director of public safety, said late Monday. Officers weren’t given a street address, but went to a home matching the description given by a 911 caller, Alexander said.

The officers went around to the backyard of the gray and brick home, and noticed the screen and back door were unlocked. Considering the time of night and the fact that the neighborhood has had a number of break-ins recently, the officers had every reason to believe that a burglary was in progress. The officers identified themselves when they entered the back of the house, and within minutes of entering the home, shots were fired.

The officer, shot in the thigh, was in critical condition and underwent emergency surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital. The homeowner was also being treated for injuries, but his condition was not known, Alexander said. At least one officer discharged his gun, but no information was released on whether the homeowner also had a gun.

Given the many unknowns with this incident, the DeKalb County Public Safety Director, Cedric Alexander, has turned the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Unfortunately this shooting is just one of the many officer-involved shootings that have happened across this country in recent days and weeks. The most notable and tragic shooting is that of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth who was gunned down in cold blood on August 28th.

As stated above, there are a great many unknowns in this case. Did the homeowner, identified as Chris McKinley, or his girlfriend fire on the officers? Was the home they entered truly the wrong residence? Was there another home broken into just down the street? And then there is this from the 911 caller:

Derek Perez told The Associated Press that he reported the suspicious person. He said he was walking his dog when he saw a man knock on a neighbor’s door and then just stand in the yard. He said he then heard a loud noise, a dog barking and didn’t see the man anymore. There had been break-ins in the neighborhood recently, so he called 911, he said.

Just as he was about to go into his house, he heard the gunshots, but they didn’t come from the house where he had reported the suspicious person.

If I were the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, I would be asking Mr. Perez a few questions.  Such as, if he could clearly see someone knocking on the door, why didn’t he provide a house number to dispatch? He had time to see someone standing in the yard and then disappear, so again, why wasn’t Mr. Perez able to provide more information than a description of the color and style of the home?  Valid questions given what happened after the officers responded to his call. Meanwhile, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation:

“Early investigation indicates that the injured officer was likely shot accidentally by one of the other officers on the scene,” said the GBI in a news release.

It could turn out that the officers and the homeowner were acting in good faith, the officers did follow procedure as much as they could, no charges are warranted other than disciplinary actions for the officers. We won’t know until the investigation is concluded. What we do know is that this is a horrible situation for all involved and we hope the homeowner and officer recover from their injuries.