A Georgia police officer was wounded Friday morning while checking on a parked tractor-trailer believed to be occupied by a man reported to have been involved in a domestic altercation in a neighboring county. The suspected gunman was killed. The officer is expected to survive.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, in a statement, reported that a Warner Robins police officer was shot, and is expected to survive. No other officers were injured. However, Michael Dwayne Bell, age 37, of Fitzgerald, GA, was shot and killed in the incident.
According to the GBI, officers from the Centerville Police Department, the Warner Robins Police Department, and the Byron Police Department located Bell in the parking lot of the Galleria Mall in Centerville.
Officers had been attempting to locate Bell about a domestic violence incident that had previously occurred in Byron, a nearby community.
During the encounter, Bell was told he was under arrest. The GBI stated that Bell refused to exit the vehicle, which was a semi-truck.
When officers attempted to enter the vehicle, Bell fired a gun from inside the vehicle, striking the Warner Robins officer, the GBI said.
Officers returned fire into the vehicle, and a standoff occurred.
Officers attempted to communicate with Bell for an extended period following the exchange of gunfire. Around 6:20 a.m., after there was no response from Bell, officers entered the vehicle and found he was dead.
