SANDY SPRINGS, GA — City officials are urging the community to remain confident in public safety as investigators review the second officer-involved shooting in Sandy Springs in less than 60 days.

Police say the latest incident happened when officers approached a man who matched the description of a suspect accused of assaulting a woman walking her dog. The GBI says 27-year-old LaAndre Thomas of Jackson, Mississippi, pulled a gun from his waistband. An officer then fired, critically injuring him. Thomas did not fire his weapon and no officers were hurt.

The shooting near a busy intersection, comes not long after another officer-involved shooting in October, just about a mile away. In that case, a suspect fired at officers, grazing one in the thumb. That suspect was later arrested.

Despite the recent incidents, police say crime in Sandy Springs is down this year, and they do not believe there is a pattern emerging.

“I believe they’re independent of each other, they’re unrelated,” said Sandy Springs Police Sgt. Leon Millholland. “I don’t think it’s an alarming trend that we’re seeing, but unfortunately it’s just incidents that have happened, and it’s just the world that we live in.”

Millholland says these situations underscore the dangers officers face daily.

“You’ve got to be aware of the world that we live in, never assume that any call is routine,” he said, adding that they conduct department-wide debriefs after every critical incident to review what happened and support one another.

The GBI says it has been called to investigate 76 officer-involved shootings statewide so far this year.

WSB Radio’s Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story.