Officers wounded after shooting at each other

Two off-duty police officers, one from Duluth and the other from Fulton County, wounded each other during an exchange of gunfire Friday afternoon in a quiet north Gwinnett County suburb.

Fulton officer Paul Phillips, 37, and Duluth officer Jay Daily, 42, were recovering from non-life-threatening injuries Friday evening at Gwinnett Medical Center, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department.

Daily, a member of the Duluth force for five years, was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

"It's just baffling to us why it occurred," Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher said. "It's an embarrassment to this agency."

The gunbattle erupted about 1 p.m. on a two-lane road in Sugar Hill after a resident flagged down Phillips, a department veteran of at least 10 years who was wearing his uniform and driving a marked police car down Level Creek Road to his home, Gwinnett police said.

Phillips got out of his car and was immediately confronted by a man standing next to a stopped vehicle, police said. The man started shooting at Phillips, hitting him once, and Phillips returned fire, Gwinnett police reported.

Police later learned the other man was Daily, an off-duty Duluth police officer dressed in civilian clothes.

Belcher said Daily had been a good officer who recently received several commendations from the public. Other officers saw Daily in court Friday morning and detected no problems, Belcher said. Daily is on paid suspension for now, Belcher said.

Kathy Santry said she was driving to work from her home nearby when she saw a woman in a vehicle lean out the window and scream for help. She stopped, as did one other motorist.

Santry said when she walked up to the woman's car, she noticed the driver's side window was shattered and the woman had blood on her hands.

Santry immediately got on the phone with 911. She was talking with a dispatcher when the Fulton officer drove by, so she flagged him down. Moments after the Fulton officer got out of his car, he drew his weapon and started shouting at a man who was standing behind Santry on the sidewalk, she said.

Santry said she ran for cover as gunshots started flying, and when she looked up again both officers were lying wounded on the ground.

Before long, officers shut down the road and patrol cars clogged the narrow street as crime scene technicians combed the area for clues."

Clues. To what? The fact that both were lucky to have been fired upon by a fellow officer rather than someone with a knowledge of firearms? The fact that one cop was having one helluva serious beef with a significant other and was interrupted by another cop?

Quickly now. Contact Scotland Yard as this case seems to be unsolvable.