Roswell hostage standoff ends; no one hurt

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By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A hostage standoff in Roswell ended Tuesday when police stormed an apartment and apprehended a suspect who had been holding two people.

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Police make an arrest after throwing concussion grenades at a unit at Aspen Pointe apartments in Roswell, where hostages were being held on Tuesday morning.

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Police make an arrest after throwing concussion grenades at a unit at Aspen Pointe apartments in Roswell, where hostages were being held on Tuesday morning.

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Jeremy Powell (left) and Megan Powell (right) were evacuated from their apartment building by police during the hostage standoff.

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Jeremy Powell (left) and Megan Powell (right) were evacuated from their apartment building by police during the hostage standoff.

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No one was injured in the operation. Police arrested Tyler Alexander Grogan, 20, of Roswell, who was known to police for various crimes, said Roswell police Lt. James McGee.

Grogan has been charged with aggravated assault and false imprisonment, with additional charges pending, police said.

"The subject was getting tired, he was getting sleepy, and we felt that this was an opportune time to go in and take him, and we did without incident," McGee told the AJC.

Police SWAT teams from Roswell, Alpharetta and Forsyth County participated in the standoff at the Aspen Pointe complex off Gran Crique Parkway near Holcomb Bridge and Ga. 400.

McGee told the AJC Monday night that several shots had been fired inside a unit at the apartments.

It was initially believed that two suspects were holding three people hostage in the apartment, but only Grogan was found when police went in. There were two hostages, a man and a woman, both of whom got out before police entered.

"There was some confusion in negotiating with this fellow because of his state of mind and things like that," McGee said in explaining the discrepancy.

A woman who identified herself as Anita Grogan, the suspect's aunt, said Grogan has been "angry, confused, mad at the world" since his mother was "brutally murdered a couple of years ago."

On April 18, 2009, Minka Grogan was killed by ex-boyfriend Calvin Myers, who crashed his car through the front wall of her Roswell apartment, then stabbed her 16 times and beat her with a landscaping rock. Myers later pleaded guilty to murder and other charges, and was sentenced to life in prison.

McGee said police were nearby when the call of a "burglary/break-in/robbery-type situation" came in Monday night and were able to respond quickly.

"We have been doing a concentrated patrol in all of these apartment complexes so we were really close by when the call came in," McGee told the AJC. "We were so close that we trapped them in the apartment and that's when it started. While the officers were moving into position two shots came from the apartment and they backed off and called in the SWAT team.

"We found out they had started going through the walls to go to other apartments. They ended up in the far end apartment in the same building. They were trying to get outside the building to the forest out there and we were there waiting for them, so they were stuck there. We cut off their route of escape. In the meantime they moved back and right now they're in the original apartment."

McGee said the suspects took the hostages with them as they burrowed through the walls. He said negotiators had been talking with one suspect by cell phone and had cut the power to the apartment. "He's winding down; he's not quite as hostile," McGee said earlier Tuesday. "At one time he wanted to talk about being a martyr and that type of thing; hopefully he'll come to his senses and come out."

McGee described the suspect as "irrational."

Jeremy and Megan Powell live in the building next to the one where the hostages were being held.

"We were watching out the window and finally [police] banged on our door and said ‘you have to get out now,'" Megan Powell said. "He was screaming at us. There were cops everywhere."

"Once we heard the gunshots and got up, we were watching out the window, and I actually started Tweeting it, what was going on," said Jeremy Powell, who is the morning show producer on Dave FM.

"I could see the cops with their assault rifles," Jeremy Powell said, "and that was when the SWAT team knocked on our door and told us to get dressed. One SWAT officer had us follow him, and he asked another officer to cover him, and they had us go out and run away."

Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.