News Nearby: Man Fires Gun in Front of Officer at Gas Station

A Stone Mountain man was arrested after he randomly fired a pistol into the air in front of an off-duty police officer at a gas station on Shallowford Road early in the morning June 1, DeKalb County police said.

The DeKalb County officer was getting gas at the Shell station at 2690 Shallowford Road when a white Chevrolet compact sedan pulled inside the curb in front of the station shortly after midnight, the police report said.

Virdie Dill, 28, sitting in the rear passenger seat of the car, reached out of the window with a black pistol and fired a round into the air. The officer drew his firearm and approached the vehicle, the report said. He pulled Dill from the car and smelled alcohol on his breath. Another officer arrived on scene to help handcuff Dill and place him in a police cruiser.

Dill was charged with the discharge of firearms on the property of another, public drunkenness and possession of firearms by convicted felons and first offender probationers. The car's other occupants said they didn't want to be around Dill and were looking for the first location where they could stop and force the suspect out.

Dill was taken to DeKalb County Jail.