An armed woman who held her 4-week-old grandson hostage at an apartment complex near Peachtree Corners was arrested and the newborn was returned to his mother unharmed, Gwinnett police said early Wednesday.
Laurie Morgan, 57, was booked into Gwinnett County Jail and charged with aggravated assault and reckless conduct after a standoff that lasted more than four hours.
Shortly before 3 a.m., police were dispatched to a dispute between Morgan and a man believed to be the baby’s father in building 1600 of the Highland Corners apartment complex on Noble Forest Drive, Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
Morgan was intoxicated when the dispute started, and she had a gun, Pihera said. But Morgan didn’t directly threaten the baby.
Just before 4 a.m., she went outside with the baby in her arms and fired one shot, then went back inside, police said.
“Nobody was injured by this round fortunately, but we don’t know who her intended target was,” Pihera said. “So that’s when our officers on scene decided to make it a designated SWAT call.”
Jayjuan Davis, one of the family’s neighbors, said Morgan, the mother, father and infant share the apartment he later saw the SWAT team enter to rescue the child.
Davis said he heard one gunshot but didn’t know it was a gunshot at the time. A member of the SWAT team woke him up because the team needed to use his apartment during negotiations with Morgan.
“And it’s a perfect view of their building,” Davis said.
Officials lost contact with Morgan just after 4 a.m., but they continued negotiations through a public address system.
Uniformed officers and crisis negotiators assisted in the incident, and SWAT team members rescued the child about 8:30 a.m.
“They breached the door,” Pihera said. “If you heard a blast, it was not a firearm blast, but they made entry into the apartment.
“The SWAT team was able to get in between the baby and the grandmother, and that’s when they not only took her into custody but simultaneously gained possession of the baby.”
There were no other hostages.
Krystal Rose, another neighbor of the family, said she was thrown off guard when she learned of the standoff because she had just asked the rescued infant’s family members how they were doing Tuesday, and they said they were fine.
She described Morgan as a kind woman who often makes sure she’s OK.
“She’s so nice,” Rose said. “She’s really, really nice. Really sweet lady.”
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