Three illegal immigrants – including one who had previously been deported -- were ordered held without bond Tuesday after they allegedly fired shots at a Georgia State Patrol trooper during a chase, triggering a massive manhunt in Cherokee County.
The three Smyrna men are being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center. They had an initial hearing Tuesday afternoon in Canton before Chief Magistate James Drane, Cherokee Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Baker said.
Edgar Ortega Maldonado, 35, “was deported from the United States in December 2009 and obviously has returned,” Baker said. He did not know the circumstances that led to Maldonado’s deportation.
Maldonado was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and party to a crime of aggravated assault on a police officer, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
His alleged companions, Jose Salvador Vera Lule, 28 (initially identified as Salvado Vera), and Arturo A. Ramires, 22, were each charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of felony and aggravated assault on a police officer, authorities said.
The suspects also have had immigration holds placed on them.
The incident began Sunday afternoon when a lookout was posted for a Honda Civic. A witness had called 911 to report seeing the Honda's occupants shoot at another vehicle on I-75 in Bartow County, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
The trooper saw the vehicle on Ga. 20 and pursued it, trying to get the driver to pull over. Shots were fired at the patrol car during the chase.
The suspects jumped out of the car at Woodall Road and Upper Sweetwater Trail, near the Cherokee/Bartow county line, "but not before firing on the trooper again, at which point he returned fire," State Patrol Capt. Joe Hamby told Channel 2 Action News.
The trooper was not injured in the exchange of gunfire.
Troopers, bolstered by officers from nearby sheriff's and police departments, helicopters and K-9 units, searched a heavily wooded area through the night for the suspects, who were captured Monday.
“They knowingly shot at law enforcement and had no regard to his life or other’s people lives, and we’re glad we got them off the road because they were dangerous individuals,” said GSP Capt. Paul Cosper.
-- Staff writers Angel K. Brooks and Mike Morris contributed to this article.
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