A routine traffic stop took a dangerous turn for two Georgia police officers in a dramatic shooting captured by the body camera of one of the officers.
Officer Michael Schulman, 50, and his partner Jeffery Martin, 22, with the Lavonia Police Department in northeast Georgia, were conducting a traffic stop around 8 p.m. Monday when the incident occurred.
Lavonia police Chief Bruce Carlisle told reporters Tuesday that the officers became aware the vehicle had been reported stolen, and attempted to take the driver into custody.
Schulman’s body camera captured what happened next, as the seemingly calm driver suddenly pulls a pistol from his front pocket and opens fire on the two officers.
“Shots fired dispatch, shots fired!” Schulman screams into his radio with some difficulty. He tries to stand, but screams in agony and falls back to the pavement.
“Dispatch, I’m shot! I can’t get up, I’m shot!”
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Eventually, Schulman staggers to his feet and makes his way to the cruiser along with Martin, who had been shot in the hand.
Carlisle said Schulman was hit under the armpit at point blank range, and is currently in the intensive care ward at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Both Martin and Schulman are expected to recover, according to police.
A suspect in the shooting was arrested by police around 11:15 p.m. that same night, just a few miles from the scene of the shooting.
In a news release late Monday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Khari Anthony Dashaun Gordon, 22, was charged with multiple felonies including attempted murder and assaulting a police officer.
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