Local

Police identify Alpharetta officer shot in Ga. 400 traffic stop

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned the name of an Alpharetta officer shot several times by a driver during a traffic stop on Georgia 400.

Alpharetta police officials said officer David Freeman was struck five times by gunfire. It was earlier reported that Freeman was shot three times, but Channel 2 has since learned that he was hit in his leg, his lower abdomen, his right arm and twice in the vest area.

Freeman is recovering at North Fulton Hospital following the shooting that happened just after 8:30 p.m. along Main Street in Alpharetta. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office identified the driver who police said shot Freeman as 52-year-old Curtis R. Hicks, of Marietta.

Alpharetta police said Freeman pulled over a black truck for a tag violation in the parking lot of a Christian book store.

Investigators said the driver, later identified as Hicks, opened fire on Freeman when the he approached the truck.

Freeman was shot but able to call for help while Hicks fled.

Police sent out an alert to other police agencies in the area, and a Roswell police officer spotted the truck.

Hicks then took off, eventually getting onto Ga. 400.

Officers said Hicks crashed the truck while traveling at a high rate of speed.

"Roswell and Alpharetta police officers were in pursuit. They engaged the suspect and the suspect wrecked. The suspect got out of his vehicle and simply opened fire on both agencies. A number of police officers returned fire and killed the suspect," said officer George Gordon of the Alpharetta Police Department.

Roswell police confirmed to Channel 2's Mike Petchenik that a woman driving by the incident was hit by the gunfire along Highway 9. She was taken to North Fulton Hospital, where she is in stable condition.

Authorities said Freeman has been on the force for two to three years and is the kind of officer every department would like to have on its team.

Police continue to investigate this incident. At last check, Freeman was said to be in stable condition.

Authorities reopened lanes on Georgia 400 southbound just before 7 a.m. on Saturday after closing the busy road for several hours to investigate the shooting.

More on Curtis Hicks

The homeowner’s association for Hicks’ neighborhood on Oak Harbor Trail sued him in October to collect about $6,400 in delinquent HOA dues going back to 2006, according to court records obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The total owed had reached about $10,000 this month, according to the HOA, and the association recently had his truck towed.

A Cobb County sheriff’s deputy attempting to deliver papers to Hicks in the HOA’s legal case in November could not locate him, reporting in court records that Hicks had not been home in several months and was “mentally unstable, reported missing.”

Neighbors described Hicks as a quiet loner.

“He was a laidback guy,” said neighbor Jim Housley, who said he saw Hicks’ truck being towed from the neighborhood this week. “He kept to himself.”

Also Saturday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it is assisting with the investigation into the fatal shooting of Hicks.

“As with all such investigations, when completed, the investigative file will be turned over to [the] district attorney for review,” GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.