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Officers responded around 3:40 a.m. to a report of a house fire
with people trapped inside, Locust Grove Police Chief Derrick
Austin said. They broke through the back door and found Stefan
Lee, 29, wielding a large knife. Lee refused commands to drop
the knife, police said, before officers fired a Taser and a bean
bag shotgun, which were both ineffective.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Lee then rushed at
officers with the knife and officers shot Lee. He died before he
could be taken to a hospital.
Firefighters who were putting out the fire in an upstairs
bedroom found Jazzlyn Philips, 26, dead with burns there. It is
not clear what caused her death. Officers found the three
others, who had locked themselves in a second bedroom. Police
escorted them safely outside.
Officials are investigating what caused the fire. “We assume
it’s arson, but we don’t know,” Austin told The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.
Authorities in the town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast
of downtown Atlanta haven't explained whether all the people
involved are related. GBI is performing autopsies on Lee and
Phillips.
No officers were injured.
GBI is leading an inquiry into the police shooting, as is
standard procedure. The Henry County district attorney will then
decide whether any criminal charges are warranted.
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