Why the SWAT standoff with an armed Gwinnett grandma lasted 4 hours

At 3:54 a.m. Wednesday, police say, an intoxicated Laurie Morgan stepped outside her Peachtree Corners apartment with her 4-week-old grandson and a gun in tow.

She fired a round and went back inside.

The Gwinnett County officers already on scene summoned the SWAT team, but it would be about four hours — time spent continuing attempts to make contact, positioning team members and gathering intel about the home's layout — before they burst in to find 57-year-old Morgan asleep and the baby safe.

“Bad things can happen,” police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said. “We know that from the Beyer’s Landing hostage situation.”

To be clear, Pihera wasn't suggesting poor decisions were made during that January incident, a 19-hour standoff near Buford that ended with a 2-year-old and his father dead — merely pointing out that planning is important. There was no rush Wednesday, she added, because Morgan had not directly threatened her grandchild.

“Slow and methodical to make sure the baby’s safe,” Pihera said.

An hour before Morgan — whom one neighbor described as a “really sweet lady” — pierced the morning air with gunfire, her daughter called 911.

Her mother and the newborn’s father had gotten into a fight inside their apartment on Noble Forest Drive, she told the dispatcher. The child’s father had left, but her mother was still there. Morgan had been drinking, and there was a gun in the apartment. Morgan did not want the police to come, Pihera said.

But officers were there within three minutes or so and Morgan’s daughter left the home without her child, presumably to speak with them. Knowing there was a firearm inside, police decided to keep her out.

A negotiator immediately began trying to speak with Morgan, Pihera said, but to no avail. Morgan eventually came outside and fired, her target — if there was one — unclear. No one was injured.

Neighbor Jayjuan Davis said he heard the shot before being further stirred by a SWAT team member wanting to use his apartment for negotiations.

“It’s a perfect view of their building,” Davis said.

Negotiators lost contact with Morgan about 20 minutes after she and the baby re-entered the apartment, but their efforts continued for hours via a PA system that woke Krystal Rose, another neighbor.

“They were posted, like surrounding the place,” Rose said. “It kind of scared me because I have a child myself.”

SWAT team members eventually pulled the trigger and breached the door to Morgan’s apartment. They quickly put themselves between Morgan and her grandson. The child was swept to safety and Morgan was apprehended without incident.

She was charged with reckless conduct and aggravated assault and, as of Wednesday afternoon, remained in the Gwinnett County jail without bond.

“I don’t know what she was doing for that four hours,” Pihera said. “She might have been asleep the whole time.”