South Fulton active shooter fires on police after wife is shot; husband found dead following SWAT standoff

A domestic dispute turned into a dangerous active-shooter response Tuesday night after a man opened fire on South Fulton police officers, forcing them to take cover until a SWAT team could reach them, city officials said.

Officers responded around 7:34 p.m. to a home in the 3300 block of Flat Shoals Road, according to interim Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander. A woman had called 911 and reported that her husband had a rifle.

Alexander said officers were fired upon as they arrived and returned fire. The man then went back inside the home and continued shooting through a window, leaving officers pinned behind their vehicles.

Officers from several metro Atlanta agencies responded to help. A SWAT team eventually reached the officers and moved them to safety. No officers were injured.

The woman was shot in the leg and taken to a hospital. Investigators believe her husband, identified by Alexander as 55-year-old Eric Bates, shot her. Alexander said investigators had not determined whether she was wounded before or after police arrived.

SWAT officers surrounded the home and repeatedly called for Bates to come outside. After receiving no response, they entered the house and found a body believed to be Bates. A weapon was found nearby, Alexander said.

Investigators have not determined whether Bates died from a self-inflicted wound or from officers' return fire.

The city issued an all-clear at 1:01 a.m. Wednesday and said the immediate threat had ended. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation, according to the city's public safety update.