Suspect dead after overnight crime spree

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation into a fatal officer-involved shooting near the Fayette-Coweta County line early Tuesday morning. Multiple officers were involved in the shootout with what investigators are describing as a crime spree suspect, which ended on Collinsworth Road

It started around 10 p.m. Monday with a 911 call to Coweta County emergency call center complaining about a pickup truck that was driving erratically on Interstate 85. The truck, which police said turned out to be stolen, repeatedly hit the guard rail and had debris falling off it.

“He hit a guard rail once and then probably half a second later, he plowed back into it, and I mean, it's kind of was more sideswiped. I think, uh, I guess maybe a finder dragging. There’s definitely parts coming off,” said Sheriff Mike Yeager, Coweta County.

According to investigations, the pickup got off the highway at Exit 56 and about four minutes later another 911 call came in from a homeowner in the Palmetto Pines subdivision. The homeowner said someone had ditched a pickup truck in his yard and then took off running.

“There’s someone just driven up in our yard and they confronted my husband,” said a 911 caller, who described the man as being in his late 30s, armed with a rifle.

A second 911 caller frantically told operators, “there's a man standing in the middle of the street and I almost like hit him. I swerved into the other lane. He kept trying to stop the car.”

As deputies arrived at the scene, they got yet another 911 call from a driver on Palmetto-Collinsworth Road. He told operators someone jumped out of the wood line with a gun near the Fayette-Coweta County line.

Law enforcement tried to set up a perimeter, but soon got one last 911 call after a home had been broken into in nearby Tyrone. The intruder, armed with a gun, stole the homeowner’s truck.

That truck was spotted heading back toward the interstate, so deputies from Fayette and Coweta, along with the Georgia State Patrol set up a roadblock. The driver swerved to avoid the roadblock, but lost control and flipped the stolen car.

As law enforcement rushed toward the car, they heard gunfire. The driver exited the vehicle, firing at them, according to detectives. Multiple officers returned fire.

Investigators said the suspect died during the shooting.

The suspect's name has not been released. No law enforcement officers suffered any injuries.

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