www.privateofficer.com
Marrietta Ga. July 6 2008
By: Rick McCann
Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers
A private security officer was shot and killed during a confrontation with an off-duty police officer Cobb County authorities said early today.
Police have now charged a 36-year-old Atlanta police officer with killing a security officer at a Marietta apartment complex after the security officer inexplicably barged into the officer's residential unit early Saturday according to police statements. Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said officers found security guard Xavier Mallet, 37, dead, lying in the parking lot in front of building No. 6 at the Ivy Ridge Apartment just before 4:30 a.m.
Pierce said investigators were told Mallet started banging on Alanta police officer John Kevin Freeman's door and then forced his way inside when Freeman's wife answered.
The woman, who was not identified, ran while Freeman and Mallet confronted each other inside the unit. Police say Freeman then retrieved a gun from inside the apartment and shot the security guard as he left the scene. According to Cobb County authorities, the security officer may have been responding to a loud noise complaint or a disturbance at Freeman's apartment but they are still checking into his reason for going there. Freeman is being held without bond on charges of murder and aggravated assault.
A spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department said he did not know how the charges would affect Freeman's job with APD.
