SYLVESTER, Ga. (AP) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into why a south Georgia police officer shot and killed a man believed to have fled a traffic stop hours before.
An unnamed Sylvester police officer shot and killed Jakerion Shmoud Jackson, 19, of Ty Ty before dawn Saturday.
A Sylvester officer tried to make a traffic stop at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, but the driver sped away and then abandoned the vehicle and ran away, GBI spokesperson Nelly Miles said.
About three hours later, police received multiple calls regarding a suspicious person matching the driver who fled, Miles said.
A Sylvester officer found Jackson in the parking lot of a former Pizza Hut and shot him. Authorities haven’t said why. Jackson was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
GBI plans an autopsy on Jackson’s body. No officers were injured.
The races of Jackson and the officer who shot him were not immediately known.
It’s the 81st shooting involving an officer that GBI has investigated so far this year.
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