Police: Wounded officers improving; 1 of them killed shooter

FOREST PARK, Ga. – A man who exchanged gunfire with two police officers, hitting and wounding both of them, appears to have been killed by a bullet from one of the officers’ guns, authorities in suburban Atlanta said Thursday.

The two Forest Park police officers responded at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday to a report of a man driving recklessly on a motorcycle and not wearing a helmet, police said in a news release Wednesday.

The man, later identified as 30-year-old James Jacob Bailey, fled on foot and ran behind a house with the two officers in pursuit, police said. As the officers rounded the corner of the house, they exchanged gunfire with Bailey and both officers were hit, police said.

Other officers arrived and removed the wounded officers to safety before beginning to search for Bailey. They found his body behind the house.

Police initially said it wasn’t clear whether Bailey died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound or whether the officers shot him. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in tweeted statement Thursday that it appears Bailey was killed by a bullet from one of the officers’ guns.

Officer Timothy Sterrett was shot in the neck and underwent surgery, and Officer Demarkus Hutcherson was recovering from a leg wound, Sgt. Kelli Flanigan said Thursday.