STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into a fatal shooting by police officers that came at the end of a kidnapping and multi-county chase.
Investigators said a man kidnapped someone at gunpoint on Sunday morning from a home in Reidsville. Family members of the hostage chased in another vehicle as far as Collins, with the alleged kidnapper shooting at the pursuing family members, the GBI said.
The suspect then proceeded north to Interstate 16, the GBI said, shooting at a state trooper in Candler County and grazing the trooper in the head.
Investigators say the man also tried to ram multiple police vehicles during the chase, with officers trying to force the man to stop multiple times before succeeding on I-16 in Bulloch County.
After the vehicle was stopped, police say the man took the hostage at gunpoint and crossed a fence into the backyard of a house. The hostage escaped and officers from multiple agencies shot the man, the GBI said. The gunfire hit a nearby house and a resident suffered a slight injury that police say didn’t need medical attention.
The man, identified Monday by the GBI as 51-year-old Kelly Shannon Bowen of Vienna, was taken by helicopter to a Savannah hospital, where he died. The GBI will perform an autopsy in Pooler.
The investigation is ongoing.
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