Standoff in suburban Atlanta ends peacefully with barricaded gunman arrested

After a standoff that lasted more than six hours, authorities on Tuesday arrested a man who’d barricaded himself after firing shots in and around a suburban Atlanta home, Cobb County police said.

No one was hurt, police said.

Officers ordered residents of the Newcastle subdivision in East Cobb, about 20 miles north of downtown Atlanta, to shelter in place early Tuesday as a SWAT team responded and negotiators tried to coax the man out of the home, Cobb County Police Sgt. Wayne Delk said.

Someone called 911 about 5:30 a.m. to say shots had been fired, and when officers arrived, a man was shooting inside and outside a home, Delk said. The gunman was believed to be alone, he said.

Jody Reed is an early riser and was cleaning her garage when she heard a “weird, sharp, sudden” bang and assumed it was construction or fireworks, she said.

Several police cars drove by later, she said, and she saw a Nextdoor post from a neighbor who was walking his dog when police stopped him and told him to take cover behind a vehicle. According to the post, he was then told to leave the area but to take a route away from the home where the standoff was unfolding, she said.

There were squad cars in every cul-de-sac at mid-morning, and police were telling residents to stay away, she said.

Reed lives behind the residence where the gunman was reportedly barricaded and would be able to see the home if not for the thick woods, she said.

“I couldn’t tell the direction (of the bang). I would never assume it was a shot,” she said, explaining she heard no shouting or other commotion.

She heard multiple bangs later but couldn’t be sure they were gunshots, she said.

“Barricaded Subject In Custody,” the Cobb County police tweet announcing the end of standoff said. “The neighborhood will be opening up soon.”

Reed, who moved to the neighborhood in 1982, described the subdivision as “the most sedate, safe neighborhood” and said the last crime she recalls is when someone stole a flower hook from a neighbor’s mailbox several months ago.