Posted on July 18, 2023

Georgia Mass Shooting Suspect Is Killed During Intense Search and 3 Officers Are Wounded, Police Say

Jeff Amy, Associated Press, July 17, 2023

Officers on Sunday shot and killed a man wanted in four weekend killings near Atlanta during an exchange of gunfire, with a sheriff’s deputy and two police officers wounded while trying to take the suspect into custody, authorities said.

Officials said Andre Longmore was shot during an intense search for the 40-year-old suspect. The exchange of gunfire came a day after Saturday morning’s shootings rocked a bucolic subdivision in Hampton, south of Georgia’s main city.

Andre Longmore

Andre Longmore

Officials said Longmore was killed about 15 miles (25 kilometers) to the north of Hampton in suburban Jonesboro. Clayton County police said a Henry County sheriff’s deputy saw the SUV that Longmore stole from one of the victims and began chasing him, calling for help. After exchanging gunfire with Longmore, Clayton police said he ran away.

Justin Robinson told WANF-TV that Longmore entered the backyard of a townhouse.

“He had a gun, he was bleeding, he was naked,” Robinson said.

Robinson said he alerted police officers, who were greeted with gunfire when they entered the townhouse where Longmore had hidden.

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Hampton Police Chief James Turner said the four killed Saturday were all residents of the same Dogwood Lakes neighborhood where Longmore lived, and where all were shot within a 10-minute span. He identified the victims as 67-year old Scott Leavitt and his wife, 66-year old Shirley Leavitt, as well as 65-year-old Steve Blizzard and 66-year-old Ronald Jeffers.

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On Sunday, neighbor Frankie Worth told The Associated Press he heard a gunshot Saturday morning as he was reaching for his living room window to open the blinds {snip}

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Longmore, who Worth knew only as Andre, was standing in the street. He described seeing the man’s hands jerking from the recoil of firing a silver handgun.

Worth said the man appeared to have fired at a small white car driven by another neighbor, “an older white gentleman.” He said the shooting happened near a cul-de-sac where they all live.

Worth said he first thought there’d been a road rage confrontation, but said the man moved deliberately. “He didn’t appear angry, upset, agitated,” Worth said.

Worth said Longmore appeared to evaluate whether he needed to shoot again and then “started walking casually” toward the entrance to the subdivision, then at a “brisk stride.” {snip}

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Ron Foster, who lives on the main road outside the subdivision entrance, said Longmore drove through his yard and his neighbor’s yard, destroying multiple ornamental windmills and leaving tire tracks in the grass. {snip}

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