A father was taken into custody Monday following an hourslong SWAT situation after he barricaded himself and his baby inside a unit at a Norcross apartment complex, authorities said.
Police said no injuries were reported at the Bella Apartment complex. The infant was reunited with his mother after the incident, police said.
Law enforcement officials were called to the complex in the 2400 block of Beaver Ruin Road about 8 a.m.
“Upon officers’ arrival, we determined that there was also an infant child involved with the mother and the father of the child,” Norcross police spokesman Lt. Robert Braud told reporters at the scene.
Police said the mother lived at the complex and the father had come to visit. When the two parents became involved in a “dispute” inside one of the apartments, the mother left the unit, Braud said.
At that point, the father barricaded himself inside with the baby and “refused to come out.”
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Residents of the complex were tense as they awaited the conclusion to the frightening situation.
“I’m really worried,” Luciana Hidalgo told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at one point. “It’s like right there next to me, and there are, like, all these cops.”
After a SWAT team was called to the complex, negotiators were able to speak to the barricaded man, Braud said.
“I was initially able to talk with him, and then a negotiator with the Gwinnett County Police Department came,” he said. “They came and negotiated, and it came to a peaceful resolution.”
Few other details were released. Braud said a gun and multiple magazines were later found inside the apartment.
“We are also in the process of looking for other guns if possible,” he said, noting the investigation is ongoing.
While the police department has not formally announced what charges the man will face, Braud said he is looking at “several felony” counts, including false imprisonment and battery.
