This undated image provided by Georgia Southwestern State University shows campus police officer Jody Smith. (Georgia Southwestern State University via AP)
In this undated photo released by the Americus Police Department, Americus Police Officer Nicholas Smarr poses for a photo, in Americus, Ga. (Americus Police Department via AP)A second Georgia police officer died Thursday, a day after being shot alongside a fellow officer who was a lifelong friend, and the hunt for the suspected gunman ended when a SWAT team found the fugitive dead – apparently by his own hand – inside a home where he was hiding.
Officer Jody Smith initially clung to life after being gravely wounded Wednesday when the university officer went to help his friend, Americus Officer Nicholas Smarr, respond to a domestic dispute call at an apartment in rural Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta.
Both men were shot. Smarr was killed and Smith was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in Macon. The university that employed Smith announced Thursday evening that he had died.
“Officer Smith showed extreme bravery in the line of duty as he responded to a call for backup,” Georgia Southwestern University President Charles Patterson said in a statement.
News of Smith’s death came a few hours after the hunt for the suspected gunman ended.