Police say the suspect who was shot and killed on Interstate 75 in Marietta following a chase from Woodstock on Sunday had robbed at gunpoint two separate stores in two counties earlier in the morning.
A spokesperson for the Cobb County Police Department tells FOX 5 News that the suspect entered the Walgreens on the corner of Bells Ferry and Hawkins Store roads just after 8 a.m. Sunday. They say it was the same man who would rob the Marathon gas station on Bells Ferry and Victoria roads in Woodstock just an hour and a half later.
A lookout was broadcast to area law enforcement which led to officers with the Woodstock Police Department eventually catching up with the suspect on Interstate 575 near Bells Ferry Road. The suspect's refusal to stop for officers prompted a multi-agency pursuit southbound onto Interstate 75. The suspect was able to elude police for about seven despite several attempts by the different agencies to perform the PIT maneuver.
One of the officers was finally successful in stopping the vehicle on Interstate 75 near South Marietta Parkway. That is when officers say the man pointed a gun at them, prompting them to shoot and kill him. The highway was closed for nearly six hours while investigators worked to reconstruct the scene.
On Monday afternoon, the GBI identifed the suspect as 53-year-old Jerome George "Jerry" Cundy of Woodstock.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is looking into the shooting. The Cobb County Police Department and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office are investigating the robberies.
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However they could have stopped him by disarming him. Shoot the gun from his hand and arm.
They did not have to kill him. This is not a good thing. I realize you cannot tell what type gun he had, but there are ways to stop with out shooting and killing.
Apparently the police departments were wanting to kill someone and he happen to be there.
Many times I am sure that they have to shoot to kill, but in many cases it appears that there are other means of getting the bad guy without killing.
I feel sorry for the family, he apparently needed to get items or funds and the state or county would not provide assistance. I know people who try to get help and cannot because they try to help themselves. But because they try to help themselves they receive nothing. There are some that seem to get all the help and don't make a effort to help themselves.
liberal whack job!
Really?! The end result of that would the officer's family being notified that their loved one had died because he assumed the bad guy had a pellet gun and the suspect looked like a mighty fine fella out there robbing stores! I mean everyone knows that if you have a pellet gun, you can't have another real one, right? *insert sarcasm* Sounds like "suicide by cop" to me.
Last point...GBI has to process a crime scene and cannot exactly choose the location of the crime scene, I think we can all bear with it for a few hours and thank GOD it does not happen more often. They have to get their people and equipment out there, set up, do their thing, break down and then can leave. Maybe everyone should be mad at the robber for causing the situation and not the GBI for cleaning up his mess. Pretty sure GBI would rather be hopme with their families on a Sunday rather than looking at another dead body. Crime and it's aftermath is an inconvenience to everyone, but I can understand the frustration. I think maybe a traffic plan could have developed in that time to get people off 75 and to side roads.
Reminds me of the time CCPD shut down I75 to chase the non-existent bank robber based on faulty sensor info.
A time and place for everything. That is not one of them.
What did this huge delay cost in wasted fuel and delayed commerce traffic? Could be over a million dollars if you figure in everything. Dumb.
I see where the value of human life ranks on your scale.
Is this really what America is coming to?
as to the full of disgust reply your points are invalid completely since the guy was killed there is no one to hold on trial so there is no need for an investigation that shuts down one of the busiest interstates in the entire country for a lowlife thief.