Man accused of assault on officers after shooting, manhunt in Snellville

A shootout between Snellville police officers and an armed man shut down U.S. 78 on Monday morning and kicked off a massive search through nearby woods.

The suspect was taken into custody unharmed by a Gwinnett County SWAT team after a nearly two-hour manhunt in the area of Summit Chase Drive, according to Snellville police. He was identified by the GBI as Shawn Davis, 43, of Kentucky.

Snellville police first encountered Davis about 3 a.m. in a neighborhood off U.S. 78. Detective Jeff Manley said officers were called to a home on Summit Way after a resident reported a suspicious person standing outside.

“As they started checking the area, officers found the subject nearby and attempted to engage the subject,” Manley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the scene. “He fought with the officer.”

An officer attempted to fire her stun gun, but it was ineffective, he said. According to the GBI, at some point, Davis took off running into the woods near Rockdale Circle.

“The officers pursued the subject on foot,” GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said. “During the foot chase, the subject fired a gun at the officers and the officers returned fire.”

No one was hit by the gunfire, she said.

Snellville and Gwinnett County police were on the scene of an officer-involved shooting Monday morning.

Gwinnett’s SWAT unit was called in, and officers responded “en masse,” Manley said. Authorities shut down all lanes of U.S. 78 in both directions between Crestview Drive and Rosebud Road while they searched.

Davis was taken into custody about 5:30 a.m. He had a handgun in his possession at the time of his arrest, according to the GBI.

He was later booked into the Gwinnett County jail two counts of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and a single count of possession of a weapon as a felon. According to state prison records, Davis served a year in prison on a 1996 arson conviction out of Clayton County.