Gwinnett officer kills suspect in drug raid

A Gwinnett County police officer shot and killed a man Wednesday during an early morning drug search in unincorporated Lawrenceville, a police spokesman said.

At 6 a.m., Gwinnett police executed a search warrant for narcotics at a house in the 1000 block of Cedar Oak Court, according to Cpl. David Schiralli. After police entered the home, a man in the residence pointed a gun at them.

“Officers had no choice but to fire on him,” Schiralli said.

The suspect, whose name and age have not been released, died at the scene. A second man, 19-year-old Samuel Isaak Rivera-Lopez, was arrested and charged with one count of cocaine trafficking and one count of obstructing an officer. He is being held without bond in the Gwinnett County Detention Center.

No one else was injured in the incident, Schiralli said.

The names of the officers involved were not given. Three Gwinnett County officers have been placed on routine administrative leave until the investigation is complete; their identities will not be released because they are undercover officers, Schiralli said.

Gwinnett officers knocked several times and identified themselves in English and Spanish before entering the home on a cul-de-sac in the Cedar Oak subdivision, he said.

Schiralli said the warrant resulted from an investigation by Gwinnett police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Schiralli did not know if drugs have been recovered.

Staff photographer Vino Wong contributed to this article.