Locust Grove police fatally shot a knife-wielding man after responding to a house fire Thursday morning and later found a woman dead inside a burning bedroom, authorities said.
Officers and Henry County firefighters were called about 3:40 a.m. to the blaze in the 1700 block of Cadence Street. Knowing people were trapped inside the burning two-story residence, officers entered the back door and saw a man armed with a large knife, according to police Chief Derrick B. Austin.
Austin said the man refused commands to drop the knife before officers used a Taser and a bean bag shotgun, which were both ineffective.
“Finally, they reverted to their firearm for lethal force, and the suspect was shot by the Locust Grove officers,” Austin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He did die at the scene.”
After securing the downstairs, officers found a woman dead in an upstairs bedroom that was on fire. She had been severely burned. Austin said it was unclear how the woman died, but the GBI was asked to investigate. The identities of the man and woman have not been released.
During the chaos, Austin said two other adults and a youth had locked themselves in another upstairs bedroom. They were safely evacuated and were uninjured.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. “We assume it’s arson, but we don’t know,” Austin said.
Once the investigation is completed, the GBI will give its findings to the Henry County District Attorney’s Office for review. The house is located near U.S. 23 and South Unity Grove Road.
“It’s a single-family home, very nice, very nice neighborhood,” the chief said.
The incident was the third officer-involved shooting in Henry County since Friday. The other two involved Henry police.
On Friday night, the GBI said a minor armed with a knife was shot by police after trying to break into her mother’s room. About 36 hours later, a 38-year-old man holding a shotgun was shot by an officer in a rural area near McDonough, officials said. Both incidents remain under investigation.
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