Police are searching for an armed suspect who robbed a Taco Bell in DeKalb County, prompting a SWAT standoff that ended with officers finding an empty home.

Officers responded to an armed robbery at the restaurant off Fairington Road in unincorporated Lithonia on Monday morning, DeKalb County police spokesman J.D. Spencer said. It’s unknown what was stolen.

An officer who responded checked an abandoned residence on Mayfair Crossing Drive and found an armed suspect, Spencer said. The officer fired at the suspect in self-defense and missed.

A SWAT team was called to the location around 10 a.m. to make the arrest, but the suspect wasn’t found when the residence was searched later in the afternoon, Spencer said. A description of the suspect was not provided.

An investigation is ongoing.

In other news:

The one thing Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields said she will remember is that all of their preparation paid off.

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Students in Jeremy Lowe's fourth grade class at Parkside Elementary read "warm-up plays" they wrote on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. Atlanta Public Schools saw significant improvement in fourth grade math and reading scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez