Georgia man said he wanted police to kill him

VALDOSTA, Ga. >> The Latest on a man who authorities say called 911 to lure police to his south Georgia apartment complex and then opened fire.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. HST

Georgia authorities say a 22-year-old recovering drug addict told investigators he wanted police to kill him when he called 911 to lure an officer to his south Georgia apartment complex and then opened fire.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Saturday in a news release that Stephen Paul Beck told them he “wanted the police to shoot him as he wanted to die.” The GBI said Beck told them he suffers from depression and does not hate police.

Authorities said Valdosta police officer Randall Hancock’s protective vest took some of the bullets, but he was hit once just below it, in the abdomen early Friday.

Officials had said earlier that they believed the shooting was not related to the sniper deaths of five police officers following demonstration Thursday in Dallas.

Hancock and Beck were both hospitalized.

UPDATE 12:50 a.m. HST

Police say a Georgia police officer and his assailant should survive a shootout that began with an ambush only hours after a sniper in Dallas killed five officers and wounded seven more.

Stephen Paul Beck, a 22-year-old recovering drug addict, is accused of calling 911 to lure police to his apartment complex in Valdosta and then opening fire.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman Scott Dutton said Valdosta police officer Randall Hancock’s protective vest took some of the bullets, but he was hit once just below it, in the abdomen.

It’s been a tense week between white police officers and black civilians. In this case, the suspect is Asian, and the officer is white.

Dutton said there’s no evidence to support a connection with the shootings in Dallas.