Prayers for the officer.
Via ABC News:
A Georgia police officer is “fighting for his life” after he was shot while responding to a shoplifting report at a Walmart Monday afternoon, according to local police.
When a suspect exited the Walmart in Covington — about 35 miles east of Atlanta — and started to flee, the officer ran after him, an official with the Covington Police Department told ABC News.
Officer Matt Cooper, a 34-year-old military veteran who has been with the Covington police for six years, was shot and hospitalized in serious condition, said Covington police spokesman Justin Stott.
A second gunshot was then heard, and the suspect was found shot dead, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if the suspect’s gunshot wound was self-inflicted or not, according to a news conference from authorities.
The shooting took place in a secluded, wooded area away from the Walmart, police said, so there were no eyewitnesses.