[The Cobb County Courier has a policy of withholding or redacting the name of suspects unless and until the person is convicted in a court of law or enters a plea of guilty. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty, and the internet has no effective way of removing reports of arrest if the person is exonerated. We do make exceptions in high-profile cases or charges against public officials where exoneration is likely to be as widely publicized as the initial arrest]

According to a public information release from Officer Aaron Wilson of the Cobb County Police Department, the department’s SWAT team arrested a suspect barricaded in an apartment, aided by a drone used to locate him.

The public information release states that at around 3:48 AM on September 17, 2024, Cobb County Precinct Three officers responded to an armed suspect call at 1940 Atlanta Road.

The suspect, a 42-year-old Smyrna man, allegedly fired a shotgun toward multiple people.

The officers located a woman in the parking lot who had been inside with the suspect before the incident.

After interviews the officers determined that the suspect was alone in the apartment. The suspect opened the door briefly, but retreated back inside.

The officers got an arrest warrant, and SWAT officers tried to serve it, but the suspect refused to comply.

Officers believed the suspect might have moved into an adjacent empty apartment, and got a warrant for that apartment.

The SWAT team entered the adjacent apartment, and located the suspect with the aid of a drone. The suspect was moving from the attic of the adjacent apartment back into the original apartment.

Eventually the SWAT team took him into custody. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and obstruction.

The surroundings where the incident took place

The apartment where the incident took place is just to the north of Daniell Drive.