The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Jan. 20 fatal shooting by a Dunwoody Police officer of an armed robbery suspect. The shooting is the second fatal police shooting in the city’s history.
Dunwoody Police Officer Jared Bradley shot the suspect, Jason Lappe, 44, in the Walmart parking lot at 5025 Winters Chapel Road.
Police said Lappe had robbed a Johns Creek Kroger at gunpoint and fled the scene in a vehicle. A witness followed Lappe in his car to the Walmart parking lot, where officers from Dunwoody and Johns Creek converged on the scene at about 7:45 a.m. to search for the suspect, according to police.
“When confronted by officers, the suspect did not comply with their verbal commands and exited the vehicle,” Dunwoody Police Sgt. Robert Parsons said in a press release. “Fearing for his safety and the safety of others, an officer fired one shot, striking the suspect.”
Officers immediately detained Lappe and rendered first aid until DeKalb Fire/EMS arrived on scene, Parsons said. Lappe was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he was pronounced dead.
Bradley has been placed on paid administrative leave in accordance with departmental procedures. Bradley has worked for the Dunwoody Police Department four years, according to Chief Billy Grogan.
Lappe’s father, Jim Lappe, told WSB-TV news that he believed his son had a long history of drug abuse and had been in and out of jail and rehab programs.
“This tragedy, we believe, was a police-assisted suicide on his part,” Jim Lappe told WSB. “We hold no grudge against the officer who killed him.”
Bradley previously worked for the Gwinnett Police Department from 2001 to 2007 and again from 2009 to 2011, according to a Gwinnett Police spokesperson.
The first fatal Dunwoody Police shooting occurred in 2012, involving Sgt. Jason Dove. The shooting was under investigation by the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office after a civil grand jury in 2015 directed the DA to investigate whether Dove should face criminal charges. The DA’s office later closed the case without filing criminal charges, according to spokesperson Yvette Jones.
Dove shot Bradley Almy, 34, in November 2012, after he was seen driving erratically in the police department parking lot and on Ashford-Dunwoody Road during rush hour.
You people are pathetic. You always slant what you write to make law enforcement look bad.