By Mark Woolsey

Cobb police are dealing with the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting.

A department spokesman says officers were canvassing the area of Bradley Avenue Monday night after hearing multiple gunshots.     Police say not long after that, their 9-1-1 center got a call from someone on Bradley advising them of  an armed subject in the area.

Upon arrival, officers spotted a male subject armed with a handgun. Officers issued multiple verbal commands telling he male to drop the weapon. The subject did not comply. Officers on scene then opened fire.

The suspect was struck by gunfire and was pronounced dead.

No officers were injured.

 Following established protocol, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been requested to conduct an independent investigation and has assumed control of the case.

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 investigation 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.

The investigations are carried out by Special Agents in a regional office within the area where the police agency is located. 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.