A Fort Oglethorpe police officer shot out the tire of a getaway car during a chase this afternoon, according to a source within the police department who was not authorized to speak.
According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the incident began with report of a shoplifting at a Walmart on Battlefield Parkway around 2:50 p.m. Fort Oglethorpe Police issued a lookout for a blue Toyota Camry.
Four minutes later, according to the release, officers spotted that car and tried to pull it over. A source within the police department said this took place near the Super Street Motors on Battlefield Parkway.
Soon after the stop, according to the GBI, one of the suspects ran away. An officer chased the suspect. Meanwhile, the driver and another passenger inside the Camry began to drive toward a second officer, who stood on a crowded street.
The officer then fired one shot, according to the GBI. A source in the department said that the officer hit one of the car's tires but neither of the people inside the car. Soon after, two members of the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department arrested the people inside the Camry outside the Office Depot parking lot, located at 731 Battlefield Parkway.
The suspect who ran away from the traffic stop, meanwhile, was arrested near Battlewood Apartments. According to the GBI, nobody was injured from the chase or the shooting.
Fort Oglethorpe police are investigating the shoplifting. The GBI is investigating the officer involved shooting.
"The GBI will conduct an independent investigation to determine what occurred during the incident," a spokesman for the department said in a news release. "When the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the Catoosa County District Attorney's Office for judicial review."