Police are trying to determine why the victim of an alleged kidnapping lied about his identity when officers found him walking along a Gwinnett County roadside early Monday morning.

A few hours after Gwinnett SWAT officers shot and killed one alleged abductor and arrested a second man in a pre-dawn confrontation at a Waffle House parking lot, a patrolling officer spotted the victim, 34-year-old David Juan Arce-Flores, walking along U.S. 29.

A photo of Arce-Flores had been circulated among police earlier in the day, and the officer may have recognized him from the picture, said Lt. Steve Rose, spokesman for the Sandy Springs Police Department. The Sandy Springs department had asked for Gwinnett's help in the case.

Arce-Flores was reportedly abducted July 1 from Magnolia Apartments on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. But instead of calling out to Gwinnett police for help when he was found, Arce-Flores gave the officer a false name and date of birth, Rose said.

"It just doesn't make a lot of sense," Rose said.

Arce-Flores had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court, and Rose speculated "that may be why he did it."

Arce-Flores is being held at the Gwinnett County Detention Center for that outstanding warrant and for giving false information to police.

Police said the July 1 abduction targeting Arce Flores did not appear to be random because it was carefully orchestrated. Six men dressed in all black clothing entered his apartment around 2 a.m. on July 1. They wore gun belts with holsters and the word "police" was printed on their shirts, Rose said.

Rose said the men grabbed Arce-Flores, tied him up and dragged him out of his home.

Relatives of Arce-Flores called police on July 3 and said that the kidnappers were demanding a "large sum of money," Rose said.

Late Sunday night, the alleged kidnappers and family communicated again, setting up a location — the Waffle House on Pleasant Hill Road at Cruse Road in Gwinnett County — to meet and pay the ransom.

At about 2:30 a.m. Monday, Gwinnett SWAT officers were watching a dark-colored sport utility vehicle in the restaurant parking lot. Investigators believed the SUV to be linked to the kidnapping, Gwinnett police spokeswoman Illana Spellman said.

When two officers in an unmarked vehicle drove up to the SUV and announced themselves, one of the suspects inside the SUV "made aggressive movement toward his weapon," Spellman said. "The SWAT officers opened fire, striking the suspect."

Richard Garcia, 23, of Doraville, was killed. A second suspect, 24-year-old Jose Ramirez-Perez, was arrested and charged with false imprisonment.

Spellman said no officers were injured.

Between the time of the shooting and Arce-Flores' being located, a Gwinnett SWAT team searched a home about three miles from the Waffle House but found nothing and made no arrests. Police have not said who or what they were looking for, or how the search fit into the alleged kidnapping investigation.

The search unsettled neighbors.

"I woke up with a SWAT team lying in my yard," said Kalan Strickland, a mother of two who lives across the street from the home that was searched.

According to several neighbors, police used an explosive-disarming robot to break the home's glass front door and search inside.

Dulce Ramirez, who rents the place with her three children, siblings and mother, said police burst into her home and forced her out before dawn.

"They told me they were looking for someone who had been kidnapped, found nothing and that everything was all right," she said.

Ramirez said she was angry and did not want to comment further.

Staff writers Mike Morris and Jose Pagliery contributed to this article.