DeKalb County

Man goes airborne in car, lands down embankment next to I-285 after being shot, police say

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County police are searching for the person who shot and killed a man in his car.

NewsChopper 2 flew over the scene Tuesday afternoon along Interstate 285, where investigators found the injured man who died later at the hospital. They said the victim was not shot there.

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“Right about 10:30, 11 o’clock, I was in my room fixing some food and all I heard was pow, pow, pow, pow,” a witness told Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach, asking not to be identified.

The man staying at a motel next to the interstate said he saw police on the scene within minutes.

Witnesses told Gehlbach someone was shot along Montreal Road and then drove off. Police said the victim drove the vehicle to a dead end, then the car went airborne, over a guardrail and through a chain-link fence, finally stopping down an embankment next to the interstate between Lawrenceville Highway and Highway 78.

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“He had to go through that little ramp thing, then through the fence and over the side,” the witness said.

The driver of the car was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died.

Detectives collected evidence from the car and shell casings in the road. They think the suspect walked up to the victim’s car, opened fire, then ran.

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Investigators have not yet released the identity of the man killed or said if he has any connection to the area.

Police only said the victim was in his late 30s.

Anyone with information is asked to call DeKalb County police, or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.

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