Authorities in Georgia have been locked in a tense standoff with a man they say shot a police officer.
The man accused of shooting a police officer and then barricading himself inside his Georgia home was taken into custody Friday morning following a tense, overnight standoff with law enforcement.
Authorities detained 45-year-old Perry Baggett just before 7 a.m. Saturday, GBI Special Agent in charge J. T. Ricketson told WMAZ. He was taken to Navicent Health hospital in Macon, Ga. — about 85 miles south of Atlanta —for treatment, though the extent of his injuries are unclear.
Centerville Police Officer Jeremy Mashuga was responding to a domestic violence call at about 9: 30 p.m. Friday when Baggett opened fire, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told local Fox affiliate WGXA.
Mashuga was rushed to the Macon hospital where he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to reports.
“He’s going to be OK,” Cameron Andrews, a Centerville councilman, said to the Telegraph of Macon in a text message. “God is good.”
What sparked the shooting still remains unclear in wake of the nine-hour standoff, which prompted response from multiple law enforcement agencies in the area.
Tactical teams from both the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the Warner Robins Police Department were on the scene and a hostage negotiator tried repeatedly to communicate with Baggett throughout the night.
Sheriff Cullen Talton confirmed gunfire was exchanged on several occasions amid the standoff.
A woman trapped on the second floor of the home was previously rescued on the scene and nearby neighbors were evacuated.
As the standoff wore on, authorities attempted to get eyes on the suspect with the use of a Georgia State Helicopter and a GBI bomb robot. They also used gas in an effort to force him out of his home on Jeanett Place.
For several hours early Saturday officers began to wonder whether Baggett was dead, but they soon spotted movement and the lights eventually flickered on in the two-story home.
