A police officer was ambushed and shot after a gunman called 911 and lured him to his Valdosta, Georgia, home Friday, state investigators said.
According to preliminary information, 22-year-old Stephen Paul Beck called police just before 8 a.m. to report that his car had been broken into outside his apartment in the city of about 54,000 near the Florida border, about 65 miles east-northeast of Tallahassee.
Valdosta police officer, suspect injured in shooting: https://t.co/GxGA30qY5k pic.twitter.com/f8pjPxkDK3
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) July 8, 2016
When Valdosta Officer Randall Hancock arrived to investigate, he stepped out of his patrol car and was shot at least two times in his protective vest, and once in the abdomen, below the vest, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Hancock managed to fire back, striking the gunman, who investigators later identified as Stephen Beck. Both men were rushed to an area hospital; Hancock is in stable condition and Beck remains in serious condition.
GBI: Suspect in Valdosta shooting called 911, ambushed responding officer https://t.co/OfJPoqgZID pic.twitter.com/hKVpYIUue8
— Wade Heard (@Dawgsfan34) July 8, 2016
Police are still looking for Beck’s car, a 2009 silver Nissan Sentra with a Georgia license plate PVW 814.
The motive for the shooting is still not known. The officer was wearing a body camera, police say, and that footage is now being examined by the GBI.
The shooting comes a day after five police officers in Dallas were fatally shot during a protest over recently deadly shootings by police. Friday morning, another police officer was ambushed and shot in Ballwin, Missouri.
Anyone who sees it is asked to call the Valdosta Police Department at 229-293-3145, or the Thomasville GBI Regional Office at 229-225-4090.
