2 Georgia sheriff’s deputies were shot and killed while serving a warrant, authorities say. The suspects have been apprehended
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Chris Boyette and Shawn Nottingham, CNN
Two suspects have been arrested after a pair of Cobb County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies were shot and killed while serving a warrant Thursday night in what the sheriff described as an “ambush.”
The two deputies were attempting to serve a warrant for failure to appear for theft by deception, Sheriff Craig D. Owens said in a press conference.
After knocking and ringing the doorbell of a suspect’s house and getting no answer, the deputies headed back to their car, Owens said. But as they got back in the car, another vehicle pulled up to the house, which they assumed to be the suspect. As the deputies moved to exit their car, shots were fired, the sheriff said.
“It’s very simple. My two deputies were ambushed this evening and killed,” Owens said. He did not clarify whether both suspects fired shots or whether the deputies returned fire.
The names of the two deputies, who had both been with the department for more than five years, are not being released until their entire families have been notified, Owens said.
The two suspects in the shooting are being held for questioning at the Cobb County Police Department, Owens said.
“We assume one of them did live there at that property,” he said, citing the warrant.
At least one of the suspects had barricaded themselves following the shooting, the sheriff’s office said in a tweet. After several hours and negotiation efforts, the standoff ended “peacefully” and the suspects were taken into custody, Owens said.
“It is a night of heartache for two families from the Cobb sheriff’s office, two wives who have lost their amazing husbands,” the sheriff said. “These two deputies served Cobb County with dignity and honor.”
Law enforcement agencies responded to the scene, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and more than a dozen police departments and sheriff’s offices from surrounding areas, Owens said. Cobb County police are taking over the investigation, he said.
“We need to do something, ladies and gentlemen, about these guns on the street,” Owens said. “So whatever we can do to prevent gun violence, as you can see it’s affecting us here in Cobb and affecting everyone across the United States of America.”
Cobb County is a suburban area northwest of Atlanta.
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