CHAMBLEE, Ga. — The Chamblee police officer who shot and injured a machete-wielding shoplifter is expected to be cleared of any wrongdoing after the GBI conducted an independent investigation.
Body cam footage shows the moments the suspect attacked a Chamblee police officer in February when police responded to reports of a shoplifter at a nearby Walmart.
Police say the officer tried to grab the suspect as he walked away from the store but he kept on walking and then the situation escalated into a life-threatening encounter.
“Take your hands out of your pockets,” the officer told the suspect before the situation escalated. “I gotta get closer. He’s not stopping.”
And that’s when the officer opened fire.
“I believe there was no choice but to defend herself from that tragic and very brutal attack that was coming her way,” Chamblee Police Chief Michael Dieppa told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden.
The suspect, identified as Tyrese Simon, 22, was accused of stealing a number of items, including the machete, from the Walmart on Chamblee Tucker Road in February