A female Georgia police officer was shot and killed Friday and a second officer was injured, prompting an intense manhunt that led to the arrest of two suspects.
Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd identified the murdered officer as Det. Kristen Hearne, 29. The injured officer was identified as David Goodrich.
Investigators said Ofc. Goodrich was called out to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle Friday morning. He called Hearne for backup after a plate check revealed the vehicle, a Ford Escape, had been stolen out of Tennessee.
As the officers approached the car, a man and a woman walked out of some nearby woods and began acting suspiciously. As the officers began speaking to them, the man opened fire with a handgun.
"It was more or less an ambush," Dodd told reporters. "[The suspect] drew the gun before they knew what happened."
Seth Brandon Spangler is taken into custody following his arrest in Det. Hearne's murder Friday afternoon. (Fox 5 Atlanta)
Goodrich was shot in his bulletproof vest and suffered minor injuries. Hearne was in plainclothes -- a polo shirt and khakis -- and wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest.
"It's not common for an investigator to wear a vest all day at work," Dodd said. "It may be a policy we need to rethink."
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Seth Brandon Spangler, was arrested nearly four hours after the shooting. Authorities said Spangler was not wearing any clothes when taken into custody.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said Spangler will faces charges of murder and aggravated assault. Georgia Department of Corrections records show Spangler was released from prison in August 2016. He had been serving time for convictions on a 2011 charge of cruelty to children as well as criminal counts added in 2015 for methamphetamine possession and possession of drugs by a prisoner.
"This was obviously not his first run-in with the law," Dodd said of Spangler. "I have no idea why he thought it was worth the life of a police officer who was just doing her job. It's a senseless killing."
The woman, identified as 22-year-old Samantha Roof, was arrested a short time after the shooting. Keenan said Roof would face felony charges, but did not elaborate.
Hearne is survived by her parents, her husband and her 3-year-old son. She was a five-year veteran of the Polk County Police Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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