A Georgia police officer was killed after a suspected drunk gunman went on a door-to-door shooting rampage in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, the Fulton County Police Department said.
Police were called to the scene near Fairburn after neighbors reported a possibly intoxicated man was going house to house, knocking on doors and discharging his gun, WXIA-TV reported.
The suspect "ambushed" the officers once they arrived, Fulton Detective Melissa Parker told NBC News. He fled the scene and officers gave chase in the surrounding area, which was foggy that night, but the gunman open fired at the cops and shot one in the head.
The unnamed officer was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. He was pronounced dead at around 4:30 a.m., according to WXIA-TV.
Police also open fired and struck the gunman. He is in custody and being treated at the same hospital but his condition is unavailable.
Fulton police said the slain officer, whose name has not yet been released, was a veteran cop who was well-liked by his colleagues.
"You can never prepare for something like this," Fulton County Police Chief Cassandra Jones told WXIA-TV. "We're not handling it very well."
The Wednesday events are eerily similar to a mass murder-suicide in Missouri last week where a lone gunman went door-to-door and killed seven people before himself.
