‘I saw him fall down’: Fellow SWAT officer describes night he saw friend killed in shootout

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A survivor of a deadly shootout in Clayton County is talking about coming under fire during a call.

On Nov. 30, a suspect shot and killed Clayton County police field training Officer Henry Laxson and two women during a domestic violence call in Rex.

The suspect was also killed.

Officer Alex Chandler survived that shooting and spoke exclusively with Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.

Chandler told Winne that he and Laxson were close friends. He also spoke to Winne about witnessing the best humanity has to offer.

Chandler said it was chaos when he got to the scene.

“We saw him and tried to give commands. He started opening fire on us. I heard Laxson say that he was hit and I saw him fall down, you know, in my peripheral vision as we’re getting shot at,” Chandler said.

“Less than a minute after Officer Laxson is shot, the suspect comes at you firing his gun? And you’re hit?” Winne asked Chandler.

“Yeah,” Chandler said.

Chandler said he’s on the job to help.

RELATED STORIES:

• Clayton County officer, 2 women, suspect dead after shootout at domestic call, police say
• Metro community says goodbye to fallen Clayton County officer
• Law enforcement agencies across metro show condolences for fallen Clayton County officer
• End of watch: What we know about Clayton County officer Henry Laxson

“It’s a calling, you know? And you really get to do a lot of good as a police officer,” Chandler said.

And though he would later learn that the night of Nov. 30 in Rex, the suspect killed two women and wounded a child, in the crucial moments officers only knew two people had been shot and police needed to find them and help if they could.

“We tried to get to them and tried to locate who this suspect was who was killing people. And we found him,” Chandler said.

He told Winne that night the gunman fatally wounded his best friend.

“Probably one of the best people I ever met,” Chandler said about Laxson.

He also told Winne that he witnessed the best humankind has to offer that night.

“I saw the best in humanity that night, you know? I saw a man give his entire life because someone else needed help,” Chandler said.

Chandler said when he arrived at the chaotic scene, he learned the gunman had already fired at officers and he quickly found his friend, Laxson, a SWAT officer like him, and the SWAT team moved into the darkness, not knowing where the gunman was.

“We got word through our dispatcher that the suspect came out of the house and she gave us a clothing description at that time, told us that he was walking down the street with a gun,” Chandler said.

Chandler said the gunman, who was eventually shot and killed, also shot him in the hand. He said when he heals physically and emotionally, he wants to go back to the street as Laxson would want.

“That’s what he would want. Is us to keep helping people,” Chandler said. “Emotionally, it’s like a roller coaster.”

Clayton County police Chief Kevin Roberts said Chandler “has proven again and again to be an exceptional officer.”

He said, “he’s indicative of the type of officer that I like to have serving the community.”

The chief added, what makes him so great is he cares about people.

RELATED NEWS:

Memorial for fallen Clayton County officer growing outside police station

©2021 Cox Media Group