ATLANTA (AP) — Two deputies were killed in an ambush while attempting to serve a warrant at a home in a suburb near Atlanta, a sheriff said Friday.
The two deputies had returned to their vehicle after knocking on the door when another car pulled up Thursday night, Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens said. The deputies got out of the vehicle and were talking to a suspect when shots were fired, he said.
The deputies were able to call for help and law enforcement officers swarmed the neighborhood. A long standoff ensued with at least one suspect. Owens said two suspects were taken into custody and questioned. Their names were not immediately released.
“Our hearts are broken here in Cobb County, and it's going to take some prayers to help us get back to where we need to be,” he said at a news conference. “But it’s not going to be an easy road.”
The sheriff's office in Cobb County tweeted initially that two deputies had “died in the line of duty" and that a SWAT team and other law enforcement officers remained at the scene, where a suspect was barricaded. It wasn't clear how the standoff was resolved, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the home's front door was out of its frame and several front windows were also broken.
The deputies had each served in the department for more than five years, Owens said. They were serving a warrant for failure to appear on a charge of theft by deception, he said. Their names were also not immediately released.
Sprawling Cobb County with more than 760,000 people is just northwest of Atlanta and one of Georgia’s most populous counties.