Suspect killed by Gwinnett police after ramming patrol cars

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By Mike Morris and John Spink

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A burglary and car theft suspect was shot and killed by Gwinnett County police Monday when he rammed his stolen pickup truck into several police cars as officers scrambled to avoid being hit, police said.

Gwinnett County Police Christopher Kenney, 24, was being sought on outstanding warrants and in connection with multiple burglaries and car thefts.

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John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Gwinnett County police were on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Stone Mountain late Monday morning.

Photos from the scene

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Gwinnett police Cpl. Jake Smith said Christopher Kenney, 24, was being sought on outstanding warrants and in connection with multiple burglaries and car thefts.

Police got a tip that he was in a vehicle outside a home on Old Tucker Road near Stone Mountain, possibly asleep, Smith said.

When officers went to the home around 10 a.m., “they were able to sneak up on the vehicle, place their vehicles all around it, and even had time to deploy stop sticks in case he tried to flee,” he said.

Smith said that when officers tried to arrest Kenney, the suspect “started the car, backed it up and began crashing multiple times into the officers’ cars, over and over again.”

Officers broke out the window to the car Kenney was driving, and tried unsuccessfully to Taser him, Smith said.

“He was able to continue with officers behind the vehicle in danger of being run over,” Smith said. “We had officers jumping up onto cars, trying to avoid being run over by the suspect.

As Kenney continued ramming the patrol cars, officers opened fire, shooting him multiple times.

Kenney died at the scene.

Smith said it was not immediately known how many officers fired their weapons or how many times Kenney was hit.

The officers who fired will be placed on administrative leave, which is normal procedure, Smith said. The police department's Deadly Force Investigation Team will investigate, he said.

Smith said police had tried to arrest Kenney several times in recent days but the suspect fled in a silver Honda Ridgeline pickup truck. The green truck Kenney was in Monday was found to be stolen from Conyers, Smith said.

Staff writer Joel Provano contributed to this article.