Atlanta

APD officer shares experience of being shot at Buckhead apartment building

ATLANTA — An Atlanta police officer, who was shot in the line of duty, says his bulletproof vest was the difference between life and death.

Officer Justin Fong-Borden opened up for the first time to Channel 2’s Nefertiti Jaquez about the day he says he almost lost his life while responding to a burglary call.

"It's like a sledgehammer, like a horse kicked me in the stomach. It's a huge, huge pain," Fong-Borden said, vividly remembering the gunshots, the hail of bullets and the moment he was shot.

He said at that moment, all he could think about was the love of his life and their unborn child.

"If it was life-threatening, I wouldn't have been able to see her again, wouldn't have been able to see our baby grow up," Fong-Borden said.

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He was in a shootout with two alleged burglary suspects when the slug hit him in the chest.

Fong-Borden said a thin bulletproof vest was all that stood between a robber's bullet and his stomach.

"I feel it, this huge pain spreading from my stomach like, ‘Man, what is this?" Fong-Borden said.

Fong-Borden was the first officer on the scene after a woman living at the Allure at Brookwood apartment complex called 911 when she realized two men were trying to break into her home.

"It's a split second decision. It's just you and the suspect," Fong-Borden told Jaquez.

It all unfolded the night of June 4. The officer said when he arrived, the suspects -- Michael Thomas and Antonio Bell -- were hurrying out of the victim's unit.

Fong-Borden confronted them and demanded they stop and put their hands up.

Instead, police say, Thomas pulled out a gun and opened fire on the officer, before he and Bell took off running.

"You can still hear me shooting, screaming, ‘Shots fired, I'm hit,’" Fong-Borden said.

Even while shot, the 30-year-old officer managed to return fire, striking Thomas in his side.

Minutes later, back-up officers managed to find the two suspects just a short distance from the scene before taking them into custody.

While Fong-Borden knows he could have died in the line of duty, he says he was doing his job and is just 1 of 1,940 officers that took an oath to protect and serve his community.

"I still have a job to do. I still have to protect and serve," Fong-Borden said.

While the officer says he cannot wait to get back to work, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says they still have to complete their investigation before that can happen.