New details were released Monday after a deadly shooting inside a Marietta restaurant prompted two nearby universities to issue shelter-in-place alerts Sunday afternoon.
Jose Lemus-Maldonado, 50, of Duluth, was charged with felony malice murder after Marietta police said he shot a woman while they were eating lunch at the El Ranchero restaurant on Cobb Parkway.
Multiple witnesses called 911 to report the fatal shooting inside the restaurant just before 2:30 p.m., Marietta police spokesman Officer Chuck McPhilamy said in an emailed statement.
“The callers were overwhelmed with emotion and struggled to convey what they had just seen,” he said. Police, fire department paramedics and an ambulance were all sent to the scene, he said.
Officers found 43-year-old Janice Ross of Atlanta on the floor of the restaurant with a gunshot wound to her neck, McPhilamy said. She died before she could be taken to a hospital.
Witnesses told police the shooter ran out of the restaurant and into the woods behind the building, McPhilamy said. Marietta police developed a description of the gunman and sent it to surrounding agencies.
Police dogs were brought in to track him down. The K-9s followed the suspect’s trail to Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus, and police notified the university, McPhilamy said.
The “armed intruder” was at one point spotted near the Machinist Lodge on the Marietta campus of Kennesaw State University, the university’s emergency management said in a Facebook post. Conflicting alerts were sent to both the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses, causing confusion and fear among students, according to Channel 2 Action News.
“Seek shelter in a secure location until further notice,” officials said in the initial alert sent to the Kennesaw campus. “Lock all doors and windows. Turn off lights and silence cell phones, if possible.”
The K-9′s path then turned toward the Life University campus, McPhilamy said. Shortly after, officials at Life issued a notice for its students to shelter in place.
The search continued until police K-9 Jacquo found the suspect behind the Walter Kelly Sr. Memorial baseball field on KSU’s Marietta campus, McPhilamy said. He was hiding in thick brush and was “not visible to approaching officers,” he said.
Officers placed the man, identified as Lemus-Maldonado, in handcuffs. He was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with minor injuries related to his capture, McPhilamy said. Upon his release, he was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond.
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