ROSSVILLE, Ga. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has released additional information on the crossfire that killed a man accused of shooting an officer earlier in the day.
The agency has taken over the investigation of a deadly officer-involved shooting near Rossville, Georgia that followed hours of searching through the woods for Christopher John Kitts.
Kitts was pegged as the gunman who opened fire on an East Ridge, Tennessee Police officer during a traffic stop on Sunday afternoon. The officer was taken to Chattanooga for treatment where he was last said to be stable.
According to the GBI, however, this wouldn't be the last time Kitts would open fire on an officer. Both Tennessee and Georgia law enforcement agencies began searching for Kitts and were met with gunfire when they first located him near Old Lakeview Drive and Black Branch Creek.
Officers returned fire but missed Kitts who continued trying to make an escape until officers once again found him around 4:30 a.m. When Georgia State Patrol SWAT team members found him behind a residence on Glade Road in Rossville, he opened fire again, according to the GBI. This was met with return gunfire which, this time, did find and kill the suspect.
Kitts' body is now being taken to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy as the agency also investigates the way the shooting played out. Per standard protocol, the GBI will turn its findings over to the local district attorney's office for review.
The GBI also described Kitts as a fugitive out of Dallas, Texas - though they didn't say what charges he may have faced there.