The Latest: Police: Suspect in officer shootings is dead

Shooting tile black background red circle
Shooting tile black background red circle

AMERICUS, Ga. (AP) -- The Latest on the shootings of two police officers in Georgia (all times local):

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12:15 p.m.

Police say a man suspected of shooting two Georgia police officers is dead.

Phyllis Banks, a police spokeswoman in Americus, told The Associated Press on Thursday: "It's confirmed that the suspect is dead." That was after a SWAT team went into a home where authorities had received a tip that 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick was hiding.

Banks declined to give further information, including whether police had shot Lembrick or merely found his body. Police planned a 1 p.m. news conference.

Lembrick was wanted in the slaying Wednesday of Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr, who was shot outside an apartment complex along with Georgia Southwestern State University officer Jody Smith. Smith survived the attack but was critically wounded.

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12 p.m.

Authorities say a SWAT team is staking out a home where a man suspected of shooting two Georgia police officers may be hiding.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said police received a tip Thursday from a citizen claiming to know the whereabouts of 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick. Miles said a SWAT team was dispatched and "we believe we have him barricaded in a home."

Lembrick is wanted in the slaying Wednesday of Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr. Also shot was Jody Smith, a police officer at Southwest Georgia State University. Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.

A $70,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Lembrick's arrest.

Authorities initially gave different spellings for the first names of both Smith and Lembrick, but said Thursday they had confirmed corrected spellings for each.

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6 a.m.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of shooting and killing a south Georgia police officer and critically wounding another has been raised to $50,000.

Authorities say Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr died Wednesday and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. Both had been officers since 2012.

The suspect, 32-year-old Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, is still at large and considered armed and dangerous. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers are searching for him.

The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation initially offered a reward of $20,000 for information leading to Lembrick's arrest. The GBI announced Thursday that the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement agencies have kicked in an additional $30,000.

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