An off-duty Georgia police officer, who was named “investigator of the year,” was fatally shot Friday morning as he attempted to break into his neighbor’s home, officials said.
Aubree Horton, a nine-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, is accused of entering a residence through the front door in Winston, Ga. when he confronted the homeowner.
The incident occurred around 5 a.m. when the Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call of attempted burglary in the St. Andrews Country Club neighborhood.
Officials believe Horton was experiencing a mental health episode or was under the influence of drugs.
“When he gained entrance, the homeowner produced a firearm in self-defense and shot the individual,” Capt. John Mauney said, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Horton lived just a half mile around the block from where he was killed.
Neighbors in the area were shocked by the shooting.
“I’ve lived here for five years, and I can promise you, this ain’t what you see out here,” Milton Johnston told the outlet.
“It’s right here in your neighborhood and a golfing community and a place where you really think this would never happen,” another neighbor said.
Horton joined the Atlanta Police in Nov. 2015 and most recently was assigned to the APD’s Fugitive Unit, the department said.
He was named “Investigator of the Year” at the ADP’s Crime is Toast awards breakfast on Sept. 24, the department announced on Facebook.
Horton received the honor stemming from a case involving the missing 21-year-old man Leondre Flynt whose remains were discovered in July.
Three people were arrested in connection to the death.
“It was a mysterious case all around,” Horton said during a video, which was played at the ceremony. “I felt like that family deserved justice. They hadn’t yet found the body. That was a complex investigation.”
Three people were arrested in connection to the death.
“It was a big feather on my cap that the family got closure,” Horton said. They were able to hold someone accountable. That’s what I like to do in police work — bring closure to people.”
