GEORGIA — Police fatally shot a man wanted in the weekend slayings of four people near Atlanta on Sunday, and three police officers were injured while trying to arrest him, authorities said.
Andre Longmore, 40, was shot dead during a widespread search to find him, officials said. The exchange of fire with police came a day after the killings on Saturday morning rocked a quiet subdivision in the city of Hampton, located south of Atlanta.
Authorities said Longmore was shot about 15 miles north of Hampton, in the Jonesboro suburb. A Henry County sheriff’s officer and two Clayton County sheriffs were injured in separate locations while trying to detain Longmore, they said.
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One of the officers was shot in the back and airlifted to an Atlanta trauma center, Henry County Police Chief Reginald Scandrett said. “He is conscious, breathing and able to speak at this time,” he added.
Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Turner said all three officers are expected to recover. At the moment there were no details about the state of health of the other two injured agents.
Hampton Police Chief James Turner said the four people killed Saturday were residents of the same Dogwood Lakes neighborhood that Longmore lived in, and that they were all shot within a 10-minute period. He identified the victims as Scott Leavit, 67; his wife Shirley Leavitt, 66; Steve Blizzard, 65; and Ronald Jeffers, 66.
Authorities had said Longmore was wanted on four counts of murder in connection with the deaths of four people Saturday morning. Police have not released a motive for the killing.
On Sunday, neighbor Frankie Worth told The Associated Press that he heard a gunshot Saturday as he went to his living room window to open the blinds and see how much grass he needed to mow.
Worth, who said he was a Marine Corps veteran, said he crouched down “for just a second” and then looked out the window again. “When you’re shot, you have to know where they’re coming from,” he added.
Longmore, whom Worth knew only as Andre, was standing in the middle of the street. Worth said he saw the man’s hands shake from the recoil of firing a silver pistol.
Worth noted that Longmore appeared to have shot at a small white vehicle driven by another neighbor, “an elderly white gentleman.” He said the shooting happened at the end of a closed street where they all live.
Worth said he initially thought he was witnessing a road rage episode, but said the man was moving deliberately. “He didn’t seem upset, disturbed, agitated,” he added.
Worth said Longmore appeared to assess whether he needed to shoot again and then “began to walk nonchalantly” toward the gate of the subdivision, before beginning to “walk faster.” He said he ran to the second floor of his house and saw Longmore disappear behind some trees as he called the police.
After the shooting, Longmore fled in a black GMC Acadia pickup that he stole from Blizzard, police said.
This is the 31st massacre in the United States in 2023, in which at least 153 people have died in total, according to a database maintained by the AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
