A man investigators believe was shoplifting from a DeKalb County Walmart was shot to death after pulling a gun on officers Thursday, officials said.
According to the GBI, which is investigating the incident, a Chamblee officer was working an off-duty job at the Chamblee Tucker Road store. Shortly before 4 p.m., the store’s loss prevention worker alerted the officer to a shoplifting suspect.
Additional officers were called, and they tried to detain the man, whom the GBI later identified as 29-year-old Travis Damonta Harris. But Harris started fighting the officers and at some point during the struggle, he pulled out a gun and “shot once during the fight, but the round did not hit any officers,” a statement from the agency said.
Harris then managed to escape the officers, running out of the store and across the street toward an apartment complex, the GBI said. Police caught up to him in the parking lot and ordered him to drop the gun. He did not and “proceeded to walk toward one of the officers with the gun still in his hand,” the GBI detailed.
Officers then fired multiple rounds at Harris, hitting him. It was the second shooting involving metro Atlanta officers within hours Thursday.
At one point in the Chamblee incident, Police Chief Michael Dieppa said Harris ran into a nearby restaurant.
“There was an active foot pursuit behind the suspect,” he said. “As he fled, they were able to follow him from different angles and came to a point where they confronted him again.”
Chamblee officials initially could not confirm if any shots were fired inside the store.
No officers were injured by gunfire, but at least one sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene, Dieppa said.
Officers have previously responded to reported crimes at the Walmart, likely because of the store’s proximity to a MARTA station, Dieppa said. In February 2024, Chamblee officers were involved in an incident at the same location, the chief said.
In that incident, officers were called to the Walmart after a man with a machete was seen in the pharmacy area, according to the GBI. As the officer neared the store, she noticed the suspect walking along Chamblee Tucker Road and tried to speak with him while asking him to stop and show his hands, the state agency previously said.
The chase continued toward an area under an overpass on Chamblee Tucker Road near Peachtree Road. It was then that the man “pulled out a machete, turned and faced the officer with the blade in hand, and charged toward the officer,” according to the GBI.
The officer fired multiple shots at the man, who was critically injured, investigators said.
Despite the two incidents involving officers firing shots, the area is still safe, Dieppa said.
“It’s still a very safe community and it’s usually very random,” he said.
Earlier Thursday in a separate incident, an Atlanta police officer fired at a man accused of shooting two people inside a warming center, the GBI said. That incident remained under investigation late Thursday.
— Staff writer Rosana Hughes contributed to this article.
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