An armed robbery Wednesday morning near Newnan led to a chase that ended in Fairburn, authorities said.
Sometime around 10:30 a.m., three men robbed the AT&T dealer store on East Highway 34 in Coweta County, Coweta Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Jim Yarbrough told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"They left and drove to I-85, and we chased them [north] up through the Fairburn exit," Yarbrough said.
As the getaway car, a blue BMW, tried to merge onto Senoia Road going east, witnesses said the car skidded into the median, where the men jumped out -- while the car was still moving -- and ran to hide in a retention pond behind a restaurant nearby.
Fulton County police joined in the chase, which ended with the men trapped inside the fenced-in retention pond, authorities said.
"The authorities were called as soon as the robbery occurred and thankfully no one was harmed," AT&T corporate spokeswoman said via email.
Yarbrough said the bandits were driving recklessly during the 16-mile chase in an attempt to evade police.
"They were driving in the emergency lanes and switching lanes trying to get away," he said.
It's unclear at this point just how fast the men were driving, however.
The sheriff's office is still investigating, and the three men are being questioned at the sheriff's headquarters in Coweta.
Charges are pending.
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