Testimony described body camera statements and lasting injuries.
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — A Gwinnett County police officer who was shot in the neck during a hotel room encounter still managed to subdue and handcuff the suspect accused of killing his fellow officer, an investigator testified Tuesday. The suspect, Kevin Andrews, is charged in the Feb. 1 shooting that left Officer Pradeep Tamang dead and Officer David Reed seriously injured.
The account, presented in court by a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, added new detail about the minutes inside Room 118 at a Holiday Inn Express on East Park Place Boulevard. It also set the stage for a high-stakes prosecution as the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said it intends to seek the death penalty after a grand jury indictment. The case has become a focal point for the department and the community, both for the loss of a young officer and for the unusual fact pattern described in testimony: an officer badly wounded, struggling to hear, still controlling the scene long enough to make the arrest.
GBI Special Agent Joseph Clark told the judge that the call began as a routine response. He said Reed went to the hotel about 7:30 a.m. after a report that a room had been obtained fraudulently, and that Tamang arrived to help. Clark testified that the officers contacted Andrews, who was in a wheelchair, and that they told him he was under arrest on a failure-to-appear warrant unrelated to the hotel complaint. Clark said Andrews then reached into the front pocket of a hoodie and pulled out what the agent described as a modified handgun. Clark testified that the modification was consistent with a conversion device often called a “Glock switch,” and he explained to the court that such a device can allow multiple rounds to fire with one trigger pull. Gunfire followed, and Clark said both officers were hit.
Clark testified that Tamang was struck and later died from his injuries. The details about Tamang’s final moments were limited in the hearing, but the agent’s account placed him alongside Reed during the initial contact and the attempted arrest. Clark said Reed was shot in the neck and suffered injuries that left him partially deaf, with facial paralysis and vision problems. Despite the severity of those wounds, Clark said Reed did not lose control of the scene. “Once Officer Reed was struck and he was able to gain his composure, he then affected the arrest on Mr. Andrews,” Clark said, describing Reed’s actions in the seconds after he was hit.
According to Clark, Reed pulled Andrews out of the wheelchair, forced him down, and pinned him to the floor to secure handcuffs. Clark said Reed tried to use his radio but could not hear out of his left ear, so he removed an earpiece and switched to a handheld radio. Clark testified that Reed then directed responding officers to his exact location while still inside the hotel room. The testimony described a scene where communication was difficult and time mattered, because other officers needed to enter a confined space where a gun had just been fired. It also raised questions likely to surface later: whether Reed had reason to expect a weapon, whether hotel layout or door placement affected officer safety, and what the body camera video shows in the moments before the gun is drawn.
Clark told the court that Andrews spoke after he was restrained and that body camera recordings captured the remarks. Clark testified that Andrews told Reed, “I hope you die,” during the arrest. Clark said that after paramedics placed Andrews on a stretcher, Andrews made another statement indicating he did not care about the injured officer. Prosecutors used the testimony to underline the violence of the encounter and to frame the case as one involving not only a fatal shooting but also words they argue show hostility and indifference afterward. The court did not play the full video during the brief public portions of the hearing, and the broader context for the statements is expected to be debated in later filings.
Andrews is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Clark testified that Andrews has a criminal history dating to 2007, including convictions for aggravated assault and statutory rape, along with multiple probation violations and failures to appear. Those points may become central as lawyers argue about pretrial detention, risk of flight and what prior convictions a jury could hear about. At earlier stages of the investigation, officials said Andrews was also wounded in the exchange of gunfire, though the preliminary hearing focused more heavily on the officers’ injuries and the arrest.
The shooting happened at the Holiday Inn Express on East Park Place Boulevard near Stone Mountain, an area with steady traffic and a mix of hotels and commercial properties. Police have said the call involved allegations tied to fraudulent use of a credit card connected to the room, a type of complaint that often leads officers to check identification, confirm payment information, and determine whether warrants exist. Investigators have described the encounter as turning violent quickly, and the hearing Tuesday emphasized the moment the arrest was announced. Still unknown are key details that may emerge later through crime scene diagrams, ballistics reports and witness testimony: how far apart the men were when the gun was produced, how many rounds were fired in the room, and whether any additional evidence such as fingerprints or DNA links Andrews to the weapon beyond testimony.
Tamang’s death brought an outpouring of condolences from across Georgia, and officials have said he was early in his career. He was 25 and had joined the department in 2024, according to prior statements. Reed has been with the department longer, and officials have described him as a corporal and as an officer who helped train others. Clark’s testimony provided a more clinical picture of Reed’s condition: partial hearing loss, facial paralysis and vision problems. Those injuries, described under oath, signal that Reed’s recovery is expected to be measured in months and may involve long-term therapy. The human impact for the department is also likely to play a role at later stages, where victim impact evidence and departmental policy changes sometimes surface in public discussion after a line-of-duty killing.
In court Tuesday, prosecutors announced they intend to seek the death penalty after an indictment. That announcement does not itself impose a sentence, but it changes the legal posture of the case by requiring heightened review and a more complex trial process if the case reaches a jury. Defense attorneys can be expected to file motions challenging evidence collection, the admissibility of video, and any statements attributed to Andrews. Prosecutors, meanwhile, will likely present forensic findings tied to the weapon modification described by Clark and to the injuries suffered by both officers. The judge found probable cause on the listed charges and transferred the case to Gwinnett County Superior Court, where the next public milestone is expected to be a grand jury indictment.
For now, Andrews remains jailed as the investigation continues and prosecutors prepare for the indictment stage. A formal death penalty notice would come after the grand jury acts, and no trial date has been set. The case stands with one officer dead, another recovering from serious injuries, and investigators still assembling the full timeline of what happened inside the hotel room.
Author note: Last updated March 4, 2026.