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The decision to run news like the below is not one we take lightly, and we do so because we believe it has value to our law enforcement audience in capturing the sort of situation law enforcers hope never to face. We feel it is important even as it is difficult to observe.
The death of a police officer is felt by the entire LE community and can take a heavy toll. Take a look at our articles on how critical incident stress debriefing teams help cops in crisis, 6 proactive steps to maintaining officers’ mental health and coping with line-of-duty death in law enforcement.
By Jennifer Burk
The Macon Telegraph
AMERICUS, Ga. — The GBI released a video Wednesday from the killing of Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr.
The video was captured on Smarr’s body camera and shows a bit of what led up to the fatal shooting of Smarr and Georgia Southwestern State University campus policeman Jody Smith.
The suspected shooter, Minguell Lembrick, was found dead the next day from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the video, Smarr drives up to apartments on South Lee Street as he responded to a 911 call about a domestic dispute Dec. 7.
Smarr walks up to an apartment, communicating with someone on his radio that the suspect is still inside. He knocks on the door, opens it slowly and sees the suspect go out the back door. Smarr chases the man through the apartment and outside past other units.
He yells, “Minguell, stop!”
Shots are fired, and the video ends abruptly. The GBI redacted the rest of the video, citing Georgia law that exempts the release of graphic video of a deceased person.
Danny Jackson, special agent in charge for the GBI, said though Smith had a body camera, it was not operating at the time of the incident.