An off-duty Columbus police officer working a part time job at the Chevron on Armour Road is now on administrative leave after shooting and killing an armed man outside of an adult entertainment nightclub.

Two Columbus police officers were working early Friday morning at the convenience store located in an adjacent lot from the nightclub when they heard a shooting between multiple individuals occur at the Flame adult entertainment nightclub located at 4504 Armour Road in Columbus.  

The officers responded to the shooting and encountered Carter shooting a handgun.  “The investigation indicates that Carter was given verbal commands to drop his handgun, and he refused to comply with the officers’ commands,” Georgia Bureau of Investigations said.

One of the officers fired his handgun at Carter, hitting him multiple times. Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan confirms Carter was pronounced deceased at 3:25 AM on the scene.

A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from Carter.

This is the fifth law enforcement involved shooting in 2022 in Columbus. The first occurred on January 5th when an officer shot at a fleeing vehicle which didn’t stop. An officer was injured due to being struck. The second occurred when an officer shot a suspect after a car chase on Buena Vista Road on January 6th. The third shooting occurred on Riverland Drive on February 7th when an officer shot two out of three teens when the car sped off towards the officer. The fourth shooting occurred on March 5th on Andrews Road when Sgt. Jeremy Hattaway was shot after a chase. Hattaway returned fire striking two of the suspects. The fifth occurred here at The Flame.

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Columbus Police has yet to release the name of the officer involved but we understand the officer is a male and is a corporal in the department.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation may contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Columbus Investigative Office at (706) 565-7888.