Police officers in Georgia, Missouri wounded in ambush shootings

A man who called 911 to report a car break-in Friday ambushed a south Georgia police officer dispatched to the scene, sparking a shootout in which both the officer and suspect were wounded, authorities said. Both are expected to survive.

The shooting in Valdosta, just north of the Georgia-Florida state line, happened hours after five police officers were killed Thursday night during an ambush in Dallas. Despite saying the officer was lured to the scene by the gunman, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said there was no immediate evidence the shootings were related.

“We’re putting pieces together to understand what happened and why, developing witnesses,” said Scott Dutton, spokesman for the GBI, which is handling the case at the request of local police. “There’s nothing to indicate there’s a connection to that.”

Officer Randall Hancock was shot multiple times as he responded to a 911 call about a car break-in outside the Three Oaks Apartments just after 8 a.m. Friday, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress said at a news conference.

“The officer called out on the radio screaming for assistance,” Childress said, and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies swarmed the apartment complex.

The GBI later identified the suspected gunman as 22-year-old Stephen Paul Beck and said it was Beck who also placed the 911 call. Both Childress and Dutton identified the suspect as an Asian male. Charges against Beck were still pending Friday as he was being treated at a Florida hospital, Dutton said.

The officer is white, according to Valdosta city spokeswoman Sementha Mathews.

ST. LOUIS AREA SHOOTING

A suburban St. Louis police officer was “ambushed” during a traffic stop Friday and shot at least once, wounding him critically, authorities said.

The suspect in custody is a man in his 30s and likely will be charged in the shooting, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference. Authorities did not provide the race or identity of the officer or the suspect.

Ballwin Police Chief Kevin Scott described the shooting, saying that the officer was walking back to his car after the initial conversation during the traffic stop when the motorist followed him and fired at least three shots. The shooting was captured on video, he said.

“Make no mistake: We believe during this investigation that Ballwin officer was ambushed, period,” Belmar said. “It’s an unfortunate state of events we’re dealing with right now.”

Scott said the shooting, which happened hours after five officers were killed and seven were wounded in Dallas during a protest, is being investigated and that the officer had no opportunity to pull his service revolver, saying he “was completely helpless at this point.”

The suspect was on probation for a weapons violation in St. Louis, Belmar said, had been on probation for a stolen vehicle in Oklahoma and was picked up for a firearm violation in California. He was paroled in 2015.