A suspect was shot and wounded after a Monday afternoon standoff with Gainesville Police Department officers near West Avenue at Comer Street.
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said officers were called to the scene around 5:30 p.m. to investigate what they believed to be a hit-and-run incident.
"This was not a typical hit-and-run that we're used to responding to. The caller advised that a male subject had acutally walked into their vehicle and the subject at that point then fell to the ground as if to make it look as though they were struck by the vehicle," Holbrook said.
Holbrook said the caller told 911 the man appeared to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
Medical personnel were called to the scene, as well, and that's when the incident began to escalate.
"Fire department personnel learned from witnesses on the scene that the male subject appeared to have pre-existing injuries that had occurred prior to him walking into the vehicle," Holbrook said, noting that the man had wandered away from the original scene. He said they found the man along a woodline on West Avenue at Comer Street.
"Fire department personnel stated the subject actually requested medical attention, and then at some point the subject took a turn. He became very erratic, very aggressive. The subject reached in his pocket, pulled out a knife and then began to threaten the fire department personnel with that knife," Holbrook said.
He said officers who responded used what he described as de-escalation tactics in an attempt to calm the man, but none worked. He said the man was shot when he lunged at an officer with the knife.
The suspect was transported to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in serious condition. There is no update on the man's condition as of Tuesday morning.
No offers or fire department personnel were injured.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation and will release any information on the man who was shot.
According to the GBI, this is the 65th officer-involved shooting to take place statewide this year. It is the second officer-involved shooting in Gainesville since Sept. 20, 2019.
