Police: Georgia park ranger may have been shot by accident

BUFORD, Ga. - A federal park ranger wounded by a gunshot while on duty may have been the accidental victim of a single bullet fired in a woman's suicide, police said Friday.

D.P. Wright, a ranger for the Army Corps of Engineers at Lower Buford Dam Park, underwent surgery at a metro Atlanta hospital for a bullet wound in his stomach late Wednesday. Police say he was shot after approaching a woman in a truck to tell her the park was closed.

The woman, 34-year-old Qiana Moore, was found dead from what investigators believe was a self-inflicted gunshot. A suicide note was found. Police only recovered a single bullet casing from the scene, Gwinnett County police Cpl. Jake Smith told WSB-TV.

"There is the possibility that the bullet that killed her is also the one that struck the ranger," Smith said.

He said investigators are looking into the possibility that Moore fired just one bullet that killed her, passed through the window of her truck and then struck Wright, 70.

Smith said police are still scouring the scene to see if they find any additional bullet casings. Meanwhile autopsy results should also help investigators decide if their single-bullet theory is correct, he said.

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