Police Officer Gregory Lavance Davis

Gregory Lavance Davis

Police Officer Gregory Davis was shot and killed when he stopped a man on a bicycle on Southerland Terrace Northeast to question him about a series of nighttime burglaries in the area at 1:00 am.

Unbeknownst to Officer Davis, the suspect was also the prime suspect in the murder of a woman three nights earlier. The man pulled out a handgun and exchanged shots with Officer Davis. Officer Davis shot and killed the suspect but was also shot in the chest and fatally wounded. The subject was a parolee who had been released from jail three weeks earlier.

Officer Davis was a United States Army Vietnam veteran and had served with the Atlanta Police Department for seven years. He was survived by his two daughters, two stepchildren, parents, grandmother, two brothers, and a sister.