An FBI agent shot a suspect on Jan. 5 in Sandy Springs in an incident that involved the agent being dragged by a vehicle and ended in an arrest at the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria hotel on Powers Ferry Road.
The suspect was taken to a local hospital and is out of surgery and expected to survive, according to Kevin Rowson, spokesperson for the FBI’s Atlanta filed office. The agent suffered a few broken bones but is also expected to be OK, he said.
Rowson said the FBI agent was following up on a lead on a member of the “Nine Trey Gangster Blood” gang that led him to the Sandy Springs hotel. The suspect was the only gang member that had not been arrested as part of a federal round up of 30 members of the gang in October, Rowson said.
“He was working on a lead and ran into the suspect in the lobby,” Rowson said. The suspect fled the hotel and jumped into a pickup truck and drove off. The agent pursued the suspect and somehow became entangled in the truck and was being dragged, Rowson said.
While being dragged, the agent shot the suspect, Rowson said, and then fell onto the road after the suspect crossed over I-285 and onto an access road. The suspect then decided to drive back to the hotel and walked back into the lobby where he collapsed, Rowson said.
A full investigation is underway, Rowson said.
Joe Eustice, general manager of the hotel at 6345 Powers Ferry Road near the Cobb County border, declined to comment about the incident, but said the hotel is open for business.
Sgt. Sam Worsham of the Sandy Springs Police Department also declined to comment about details, but said his department is assisting with the investigation. Roads in the area remain open, though part of the hotel parking lot is sealed off for the investigation, Worsham said.
–John Ruch and Dyana Bagby