Parts of Georgia Piedmont Technical College’s campus in Newton County were locked down Monday morning while police searched for a suspect in a string of car thefts and break-ins.
The college’s D Building and Conference Center were impacted during the search, which lasted about an hour, an official with Georgia Piedmont Tech said. A teenage suspect has since been taken into custody and the lockdown has been lifted.
Covington police were looking for the teen in a wooded area near City Pond and Alcovy roads after he was seen running near the campus. He was captured just before 10 a.m. after officers spotted him in a tree 20 feet from the ground.
The teen was one of two suspects taken into custody in the series of crimes across Covington. The suspects, ages 14 and 15, are not being named because they are minors.
Officers were first tipped to their activity early Monday morning. A homeowner in the Brookline subdivision off Ga. 36 called police just before 6:30 a.m. after discovering his pickup truck was missing.
He looked at his surveillance cameras and saw the truck was taken about 5:15 a.m. Police tracked the vehicle to the Wellington Ridge Apartments on Ga. 142 using its GPS, according to spokesman Officer Justin Scott.
When they arrived at the apartment complex, officers saw a blue Mitsubishi Lancer speed by “with an individual hanging onto the hood of the vehicle,” Scott said.
The individual quickly hopped back into the Mitsubishi, and a chase was on. Newton County deputies and Georgia State Patrol both went after the suspects at different points in the pursuit.
The Mitsubishi, which was reported stolen out of DeKalb County, was eventually abandoned at a golf business on Ga. 142. A trooper later spotted the suspects on foot behind the Hometown Suites on City Pond Road.
One of the suspects was taken into custody at that time, and the other made his way up the tree, Scott said.
“It has since been discovered that several vehicles were broken into at Wellington Ridge Apartments,” he said in a news release. The stolen pickup truck was also recovered there.
Both teens are from DeKalb and are charged with entering auto, fleeing or attempting to elude police, theft by receiving stolen property, theft by taking and obstruction, according to police.
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