Witnesses describe how truck fire, officer-involved shooting unfolded at Cobb County gas station

Michael Doudna
·2 min read

More than a dozen police officers responded to a Chevron gas station in Mableton Friday afternoon after a man rammed police cars with a stolen truck during a traffic stop.

As previously reported by Channel 2 Action News, the box truck caught fire.

When officers tried to pull the man over at the gas station on Old Floyd Road, he rammed a private citizen’s car as well as several patrol cars. During the incident, police shot the driver.

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Channel 2′s Michael Doudna spoke to witnesses in Cobb County, who said they were just standing there, filling up their gas tanks, when they saw the truck closely pursued by officers.

“We were filling up like a normal Friday afternoon, and who knew all this was going to happen?” Alexis Rivera, a witness, told Doudna. “We were filling up at pump seven, and we saw a box truck with two or three cop cars right behind him.

Police told Channel 2 Action News that it all started when officers spotted a box truck with a stolen license plate and tried to perform the traffic stop at the gas station, but the suspect hit the gas as officers surrounded the truck in the parking lot.

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“The box truck kept going back and forth, back and forth, trying to ram his way out of the gas station,” Rivera said.

He told Channel 2 Action News he was trying to get his family into his car and drive away as officers worked to stop the fleeing suspect.

“Once we were pulling out of the gas station, that’s when we heard five or six gunshots. Once we turned around, we [saw] lots of smoke. I think half of the gas station was covered in smoke,” Rivera said.

Somehow, the box truck caught fire, covering the area in smoke. As the fire department worked on the burning truck, medical personnel worked on the suspect who was shot by police.

He later died at the hospital.

Channel 2 Action News is still waiting on the name of the suspect. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation as they try to figure out how a traffic stop ended with a man dead and a truck on fire.

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