Report: Georgia officer involved in 2 fatal shootings

MARIETTA, Ga. – Authorities say a Georgia police officer who fatally shot a suspect during a hostage standoff last week was involved in another fatal shooting last year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the SWAT officer who killed the man holed up in a bank in metro Atlanta with two people Friday was involved in a similar shooting in April 2016.

The newspaper reports Cobb County officer Dennis Ponte shot 33-year-old Brian Easley after the man allegedly took two people hostage while falsely claiming to have a bomb.

The report says 15 months earlier, Ponte shot and killed 18-year-old Demetrius Deshon Dorsey as he held two gas station workers at gunpoint.

The newspaper says a spokeswoman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed the officer was involved in both shootings. The GBI reviewed each of the cases.