A man shot and killed by police in an Ellenwood parking lot Thursday afternoon was suspected of killing his girlfriend earlier in the day, authorities said.
Henry County police surrounded the man in the parking lot of Five Points Crossing at 1792 Panola Road before he was shot around 1 p.m., department spokesman Capt. Randy Lee said. The deadly incident shocked onlookers who watched from storefronts and filmed with their cellphones.
Credit: NewsChopper 2
Credit: NewsChopper 2
According to the GBI, 64-year-old Arrett Carr was spotted in the Ellenwood area driving a white pickup truck.
“Officers maintained visual contact with Carr as he drove to a nearby shopping center on Panola Road,” the GBI said in an emailed statement. “As officers were speaking with Carr in the shopping center parking lot, Carr picked up a handgun.”
Video taken from the scene appears to show an arm holding a handgun extending from Carr’s truck. Channel 2 Action News isolated a frame to highlight the gun pointing at officers.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Several officers fired shots at Carr, who died at the scene, the GBI said. No officers or bystanders were injured. A handgun was recovered.
Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett told reporters at the scene Thursday afternoon that Carr was wanted on a murder charge out of Cobb County. The man had been accused of beating his girlfriend to death in Powder Springs, the sheriff said.
Powder Springs police Chief Lane Cadwell confirmed that officers responded around 10 a.m. to a home on Equity Lane, where they found a woman dead at the scene. From the evidence gathered there, investigators were able to track the suspect, later identified as Carr, to Henry County. No further information has been released by Powder Springs police.
Witness videos revealed the shock of workers in the Ellenwood area who watched the shooting unfold. A woman in the video can be heard repeating the words, “They killed him.”
At least a dozen law enforcement vehicles were scattered around the parking lot in the wake of the shooting. The white pickup truck, with its driver-side door open, was parked haphazardly over multiple parking spaces.
The incident is the 92nd officer-involved shooting the GBI has investigated this year and the fourth this month. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
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