© Gabe Burns/Associated PressA man who called 911 to report a car break-in Friday ambushed a south Georgia police officer dispatched to the scene.
A man who called 911 to report a car break-in Friday ambushed a south Georgia police officer dispatched to the scene, sparking a shootout in which both the officer and suspect were wounded, authorities said. Both are expected to survive.
The shooting in Valdosta, just north of the Georgia-Florida state line, happened hours after five police officers were killed Thursday night in an ambush in Dallas. Despite saying the officer was lured to the scene by the gunman, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said there was no immediate evidence that the shootings were related.
Tensions between law enforcement and the African-American community flared this week following two instances where white officers fatally shot black men. Videos of those shootings or their aftermath went viral. In the shooting in Valdosta, police said the suspected gunman is Asian.
"We're putting pieces together to understand what happened and why, developing witnesses," said Scott Dutton, spokesman for the GBI, which is handling the case at the request of local police. "There's nothing to indicate there's a connection to that."
Officer Randall Hancock was shot multiple times as he responded to a 911 call about a car break-in outside the Three Oaks Apartments just after 8 a.m. Friday, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress said at a news conference.
Comment: What will the government be doing with all that DNA?