The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a man during a police stop in Smyrna early Friday. 

The agency says a Smyrna officer spotted a stolen U-Haul truck at about 6 a.m. The officer tried to stop the vehicle, which eventually pulled over on McLinden Avenue near Concord Road SE.

The GBI says Smyrna officers conducted a “felony stop” and issued numerous commands to the driver.  A gunshot was fired from the rental truck. Officers returned fire and then approached the U-Haul, finding the driver dead with a gunshot wound.

The driver was later identified as 46-year-old Darrick Desawn Rooks of Marietta. His body was taken to the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy. Police said on their Facebook page on Friday evening that the driver’s wounds were determined to be self-inflicted.

The GBI says once their probe is complete, the results will be given to the Cobb DA’s office for review.

The Bureau investigated at the request of the Smyrna Police.

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.