The Gwinnett County SWAT team was called to assist officers attempting to serve a Brookhaven arrest warrant to a suspect that was armed at a home in the 1200 block of Sycamore Summit in Sugar Hill.
“At approximately 10:50 p.m. (Monday night), Brookhaven Police contacted Gwinnett Police asking for assistance in serving an arrest warrant on an investigation they were actively conducting,” Gwinnett Police Department Public Information Officer, Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle said in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.
Close to three hours later, around 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the suspect from the Brookhaven investigation was seen armed with a rifle according to police. It was at that time, SWAT was activated.
Officers began evacuating nearby residents and closed a portion of Sycamore Road at Sycamore Summit out of concern for the safety of the community.
At approximately 4 a.m. the suspect emerged from the home and fired multiple shots at officers. A SWAT robot and a nearby residence was struck by the suspect’s gunshots. The suspect then fled back into the residence after a Gwinnett SWAT team member returned fire at the suspect.
“SWAT negotiators spent several hours attempting to make contact with the suspect,” said Winderweedle.
Law enforcement gained entry into the home at approximately 9:45 a.m. when Georgia State Patrol assisted Gwinnett SWAT. Upon entry, the suspect was located deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The scene is still being processed by homicide detectives, as well as the Crime Scene Investigations unit on Tuesday afternoon.
The stand-off came as a shock to nearby residents. Joe Hall, a resident in a neighborhood just a short distance down Sycamore Road said, “It is kind of mind-blowing. I’ve been here since 2009. It’s always quiet.”
Hall said he did not hear the sirens overnight but did notice the lights from law enforcement vehicles but thought nothing of it as it isn’t uncommon to find motorists pulled over by cops near there. Hall became aware of the true situation at approximately 7:30 a.m. when he went outside and saw the large police presence. He attempted to find out the details from a firefighter on the scene but was not given many details at the time.
Nearby Sycamore Elementary School was safe during the stand-off according to Winderweedle and was not put on lockdown. A few parents took to social media to say that the situation made it difficult to get their children to school or it prevented them from taking their children to school altogether.
FEATURED PHOTO: Law enforcement shut down a portion of Sycamore Road on Tuesday morning, Jan. 31, 2023, out of precaution during a SWAT stand-off in the Sycamore Summit neighborhood. Photo by Alicia Payne.
