A 24-year-old Clayton County police officer had died after he was shot twice in the head chasing a suspect, a police spokesperson said.
“It’s very devastating,” Police chief Gregory Porter said after learning Sean Callahan was shot. “You never want to hear what I heard today.”
Callahan and another officer pulled up to the Motel 6 on Davidson Parkway off Ga. 138 in Stockbridge Monday afternoon to deal with a domestic dispute. The officer tried to arrest the couple, but the male suspect fought back and ran, Clayton County police said.
The suspect started shooting at the officers as they chased him. Callahan was hit twice before the suspect was shot and killed by police. Authorities have not released his name.
"I heard about 15 to 20 gunshots. It was like two separate series of gunshots,” witness Rayanne Smith said.
Callahan took two of those bullets in the head.
A phalanx of Atlanta police officers helped escort the ambulance carrying Callahan to Grady hospital where he underwent emergency surgery Monday night.
He died at 5:16 a.m. Tuesday.
“Please pray for the Callahan Family, the Clayton County Police Department Family, and the Clayton County Community as we endure the loss of a fallen comrade,” the Police Department said in a release.
Porter said Callahan as “very energetic, a professional officer. Supervisors in the department speak highly of his performance.” He had been with the department four months.
Police arrested the woman involved in the dispute and have not released her name either.
This is the second Clayton police officer to be seriously injured or killed in the line of duty this week.
Last Wednesday, a suspected burglar with an extensive criminal record ran over Clayton police officer Michael Hooks, an 11-year veteran. The officer sustained a serious head injury but is expected to recover.
The suspect in that case, Thomas Areeco Paige, 36, of Hampton, is still on the loose.