One Suspect Charged After Cops Ambushed -- Two Officers 'Gunned Down Without a Chance'

Jan 17, 06:32 PM

DECATUR, Ga. - Police arrested one man and were looking for other suspects late Wednesday in the shooting deaths of two off-duty police officers.

DeKalb County Officers Ricky Bryant Jr., 26, and Eric Barker, 33, were killed early Wednesday in an apparent ambush at an apartment complex in what residents described as a high-crime neighborhood, police said.

Police arrested a 32-year-old man and charged him with murder, said Officer Jonathan Ware, a DeKalb County police spokesman. Ware said he did not have details on what led investigators to arrest Herbie Deshawn Durham hours later, other than "hard police work."

County officials had offered a $55,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Ware could not say whether the reward offer had anything to do with Durham's arrest but said authorities had gotten cooperation from the public, including residents of the apartment complex.

Bryant and Barker were working as security guards at the complex and investigating a suspicious person there when shots rang out, DeKalb County Police Chief Terrell Bolton said.

Bolton told reporters that the dead officers were wearing their police uniforms and that the shooting appeared to be an ambush. "It just appeared that they were gunned down without a chance," he said.

He did not say what led to the shooting.

Police used dogs and a helicopter to search for the suspects.

"These police officers were heroes; they were committed and dedicated to law enforcement," said Vernon Jones, the county chief executive. "We will not rest until those folks responsible for this are apprehended and justice is served."

Patreka Anderson, a resident of the complex, said she was awakened by the gunshots but did not think anything of it because the neighborhood around the Glenwood Gardens apartment complex is a high-crime area with a lot of drug activity and prostitution.

"We always hear shooting," she said. "I didn't think that was any big deal."

Teofil Taut, who said he has owned the 176-unit complex for about two years and lives in one of the buildings, said he hired police as part-time security officers in December to keep homeless people from breaking into the apartments.

Originally published by Daniel Yee Associated Press .

(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. One Suspect Charged After Cops Ambushed -- Two Officers 'Gunned Down Without a Chance'
Back to Current Headlines