Officer Aaron Wilson of the Cobb County Police Department announced in a public information release that an officer fatally shot an armed suspect in a Walgreens on Cobb Parkway.  The incident will be investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (see the GBI’s role in shooting incidents involving police officers at the bottom of this article).

Here is the text of the public information release:

On Friday, August 9, 2024, at approximately 11:27 p.m., officers from the Cobb County Police Department were involved in an officer-involved shooting at the Walgreens located at 2670 Cobb Parkway.

Preliminary information indicates that officers located a wanted suspect inside the Walgreens and attempted to make contact. During the ensuing altercation, the suspect, who was armed with a gun, was shot. The suspect was transported to Kennestone Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Following standard procedure, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has been requested to take over the investigation. The GBI is now in charge and will conduct a thorough review of the incident.

The GBI’s role in officer-involved shootings

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation routinely investigates the shooting of individuals by police officers, as well as any time an officer discharges a firearm while on duty, at the request of the police agency involved in the shooting.

Natalie Ammons, the Deputy Director of the GBI’s Office of Public Affairs explained to us how the system works.

Police agencies are not required to request outside investigations of officer-involved shootings, and there is no formal agreement between the GBI and local police departments.

But police agencies make the request so that an independent agency does the investigation in an incident involving their own officers.

Special Agents in a regional office within the police agency’s area carry out the investigations. Cobb County, and much of the rest of metro Atlanta, is in the GBI’s Region 10, based in Conyers.

In Region 10, officer involved shootings and corruption investigations are the primary investigations Special Agents do, while in more rural areas with fewer police resources the agents handle a wider range of criminal investigations.

There is no special unit or division that conducts the investigation of officer involved shootings.

The announcements of the investigations can be found at the GBI’s press release web page.