Police Officers Shot On Duty 2016: Georgia Officer Recovering, Wounded Outside Hospital

A Laurens County sheriff’s deputy was shot outside a hospital in Dublin, Georgia, Sunday by a patient who had been going in and out for the last three days for medical reasons that were not released, police said.

Dublin Police Chief Tim Chatman said the officer sustained his injury outside Fairview Park Hospital, which is roughly 135 miles southeast of Atlanta, when law enforcement officials responded to an active shooter report late Sunday, local reports said.

When police first encountered Akeem Woodward around 9 p.m., the suspect began shooting and hit the unidentified officer in the lower leg, local newspapers reported Monday. The sheriff’s deputy was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

Woodward was not hit during the shootout but was taken into custody at Laurens County jail. Chapman said hospital staff members were able to identify Woodard because he had spent the night there Thursday for undisclosed medical reasons.

“We saw a head popping up behind the hedges, and we challenged the individual, and we were able to lock him up,” Chatman said during in a press conference late Sunday.

Chatman assured the public there was no second shooter. Police thoroughly searched the entire hospital.

"We are certain there was one person. We want the public to know that everything is safe," Chatman said. "In fact, the hospital is returning back to normal, the emergency room is functioning as it should."

After being closed by local police following the shooting, the hospital resumed operations around midnight Sunday. Hospital staff members had practiced an active shooter drill two weeks ago. Chapman said because the hospital knew how to conduct itself in such a situation, no staff members or patients were injured.

“We’re grateful to the Lord that he minimized [casualties]. It could have been bad,” Chapman said.

Seven law enforcement officers were killed in Georgia while on duty this year. Recently, Americus Officer Nicholas Smarr and Jody Smith, an officer with Georgia Southwestern State University, died after getting shot Dec. 7 while the two were responding to a domestic dispute call at an apartment in Americus, 130 miles south of Atlanta.

Sixty-four officers across the country were killed in the line of duty in 2016, which is the largest number in five years, CNN reported Tuesday. There hadn’t been a year where more than 50 officers were fatally shot since 2011 when 73 officers were shot dead.