STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. — An Atlanta Police Department officer serving on a joint task force was shot Tuesday while serving a murder warrant in Henry County, APD said.
Atlanta Police identified the subject of that murder warrant as Derrick Rankins. They said he was the suspect in the killing of Courtney Reese, a mother of 4 who was shot and killed last week.
Rankins died during the task force operation, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. It was not initially known precisely how he died. Schierbaum said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was investigating part of the incident as an officer-involved shooting, though the APD chief clarified that it was not known if Rankins was struck by officer fire or perhaps he died by self-inflicted gunfire.
The officer's injuries were not considered life-threatening. Atlanta Police held an afternoon press conference outside Grady Hospital, where the officer was taken after the shooting. The officer was described as an 18-year veteran of the Atlanta Police force assigned to the department's Fugitive Unit.
The APD officer has not yet been identified.
The situation unfolded at a location on Linden Lane just outside Stockbridge city limits. The 11Alive SkyTracker flew over the scene, where numerous law enforcement vehicles and officers could be seen.
Reese, 32, was shot on the night of Tuesday, August 20 at a location on Springside Drive, south of Cleveland Avenue. Ring video obtained by 11Alive showed the killing, with Rees saying, "Please. I don't..." before an individual raised his hands and shot at point-blank range. The person fired at least 10 shots, even after Reese collapsed, before running out of frame down the driveway.
Reese was a mother of four children, ages 6, 9, 11 and 13. Her family was devastated after the shooting, which came just months after her younger sister was killed by a stray bullet when someone opened fire at a crowd outside a home in Decatur.
The operation to serve the murder warrant on Tuesday morning was conducted by the federally-led Southeastern Fugitive Task Force. Members of both APD and the Georgia State Patrol were on the task force with the U.S. Marshal's Service.
The shooting of the APD officer on Tuesday followed on two other serious shootings of law enforcement officers, who were either responding to a call or also serving a warrant, in metro Atlanta in the last couple weeks. Paulding County Sheriff's Deputy Brandon Cunningham was shot and killed on August 17, and Carroll County Sheriff's Deputy Taylor Bristow died days after being shot on August 20.
"This is a dangerous job, and I'm so thankful men and women every day say yes to this profession, to protect this city, this county and communities across the region," Chief Schierbaum said. "This is what we train for. We recruit men and women who have a quality to stand in the gap for their communities."