AMERICUS, Georgia — A police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded Wednesday at an apartment complex in western Georgia, prompting a hunt for a suspect and causing nearby Georgia Southwestern State University to tell students to take shelter.
The shooting took place in the small city of Americus. The slain cop served on the Americus police force, while the other works for the university.
The second officer was in critical condition after the shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation representative Nelly Miles said. Both were shot while responding to a call about a domestic dispute, Miles said.
Authorities have named Minquel Lembrick as a suspect in the shooting; Lembrick was being sought Wednesday afternoon, said Diane Brown with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Georgia Southwestern State, a school that has about 3,000 students, told its campus community to shelter in place Wednesday morning because of the shooting.
“Please secure all doors and windows (any additional actions such as shut down HVAC, turn off lights, move to unobservable part of the room, get on the floor, away from doors) and await further instructions or contact by first responders,” reads a notice on the university’s website.
Americus is some 138 miles south of Atlanta and is near Plains, the birthplace of former President Jimmy Carter.
