Second Georgia Police Officer Dies After Being Shot Alongside Partner and Childhood Friend

Char Adams
Updated
Second Georgia Police Officer Dies After Being Shot Alongside Partner and Childhood Friend

The hunt for a Georgia man who killed two police officers came to an end Thursday morning with the suspect found dead of an apparent suicide in an Americus home, reports say.

Police tried to make contact with 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick for more than an hour after hearing a gunshot inside the Americus home on Thursday morning, according to USA Today. Officers eventually used a robot to open the door.

“SWAT team made entry. They found one suspect inside who was deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said during a press conference.

Police offered a $70,000 reward for information leading to Lembrick’s whereabouts, according to USA Today. A local resident who knew Lembrick contacted tipped off police, leading them to the Americus home.

The death came the day after Lembrick opened fire on Americus Police Officer Nicholas Smarr and Georgia Southwestern State university Officer Jodi Smith as they responded to a report of a domestic dispute at an apartment complex, police said, according to the Associated Press.

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Smarr died Wednesday and Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, the AP reports. He succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, Georgia Southwestern State University President Charles Patterson announced.

“Officer Smith was a bright, young and energetic officer, and he will be sorely missed,” Patterson wrote in a statement posted on the school’s website.

Lt. Chuck Hanks of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Smarr and Smith had been friends since grade school, were roommates sharing a home in the county and even attended both high school and the police academy together, according to CBS News.

The Americus Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.