A gunman was arrested after killing a security guard and injuring another person outside the Honduran consulate near Atlanta on Monday afternoon, officials said.
A suspect was taken into custody at the scene, and the police believe there are no other threats to the public, said Emily Heenan, the spokeswoman for the city of Doraville, Ga., which is about 16 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Before the shooting, the gunman tried to enter the consulate building with a weapon, which is not allowed, Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina of Honduras said in a statement. He added that the security guard who was killed was of Mexican nationality and worked for a private security company.
On Monday night, Mr. Reina said in a social media post that the authorities in Atlanta now thought that the gunman, who was initially believed to be Honduran, was of Puerto Rican origin. Mr. Reina said in his post that the gunman was the partner of a Honduran citizen who was completing paperwork at the consulate.
Officials have not publicly released the suspect’s name.
The authorities did not say whether they knew the motive for the attack. Investigators are confident that the gunman acted alone, Ms. Heenan said.
The Doraville Police Department received calls around 2:30 p.m. about gunshots fired just outside the Consulate General of Honduras, which is at 6755 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and is one of 14 Honduran consulates in the country. The security guard was declared dead at the scene. Another person who was injured was taken to a hospital, Ms. Heenan said.
Witnesses told Spanish-language news outlets that the guard had used pepper spray against the gunman before he opened fire. They said that the gunman had fired his weapon several times, striking the security guard, who still managed to secure the door to the consulate.
In remarks made on Monday, the Honduran foreign minister, Mr. Reina, praised the guard for having potentially saved the lives of those inside.
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