ICYMI: DeKalb Officer Shoots, Kills Machete-Wielding Suspect

DECATUR, GA -- A man reported to be carrying a machete and a chicken was shot and killed by a DeKalb County Police officer Wednesday morning.

Police were called to the 3000 block of Green Oaks Circle shortly after 8 a.m. on a suspicious-person report, according to police spokesman Maj. Stephen Fore.

Once there, an officer found a man armed with what appeared to be a machete, Fore said. The man reportedly attacked the officer, who tried unsuccessfully to stop the attack using his baton.

"The officer was forced to use his firearm to stop the attack from the male," Fore said in an email.

The suspect, whom police were not yet identifying early Wednesday afternoon, was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

DeKalb Police contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which routinely investigates police shootings.

Fore did not say why the man was believed to have a chicken or whether he still had the bird when the officer arrived.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the GBI confirmed it is investigating the shooting.

A 2 to 3-foot piece of sheet metal "fashioned into a machete-like weapon" and two other knives were found at the scene, the GBI said.

The officer, who, along with EMS personnel, administered first aid to the suspect, was not injured, according to the GBI statement. The body of the suspect was sent to the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's office, where an autopsy will be conducted.