Atlanta police have confirmed that the man responsible for a three-hour standoff in Buckhead on Thursday morning is also the same man believed to be responsible for the kidnapping and rape of an area college student.
Police identified the man as James Scott Carringer, 42. Carringer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the standoff, police said.
Major R.L. Browning told reporters on the scene that police got a call at 5:30 a.m. about a suspicious vehicle in the area of Peachtree Street and 26th Street. When officers approached the black Nissan XTerra, Carringer told officers he was suicidal and had a gun and explosives in the vehicle.
Those officers backed off and the SWAT team was called in. About 20 minutes later, a gunshot was heard coming from the vehicle, Browning said. Shortly before 8 a.m. a bomb squad robot approached the SUV and detonated an explosive device to knock out a window, he said. That's when officers found the man dead inside the car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Browning said. He said no explosives were found in the vehicle.
Peachtree Street was closed in both directions for more than 2 1/2 hours and was reopened just after 8:30 a.m. Surrounding streets, including Northside Drive, were jammed with traffic as commuters sought alternative routes to and from Buckhead.
Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson told the AJC that on Tuesday, Carringer met a 19-year-old relative, who attends Kennesaw State, in the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods on Barrett Parkway.
"He took her against her will to Ellijay and raped her," Nicholson said. The rape occurred on a dirt "logging-type" road off Ga. 515, the sheriff said.
After the attack, Carringer drove his victim back to Kennesaw and released her. She then drove herself to North Georgia Medical Center in Gilmer County and reported the rape.
Sheriff's investigators took out a warrant for Carringer on Wednesday, and a regional lookout was posted on his black Nissan Xterra.
Nicholson said that Carringer lived in Hiawassee, in neighboring Towns County.
Carringer is a house appraiser, the sheriff said. According to the Georgia Real Estate Commission's Web site, Carringer's appraiser's license has been revoked.
Police in Montgomery, Ala., are looking into Carringer possibly being connected to an attempted abduction of a 10-year-old girl, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
His black Xterra is similar to one caught on video surveillance during the attempted abduction of the girl at Hunter Station Baptist Church on Sunday, the paper reports.
The girl got away by jumping from the vehicle in a parking lot.
Return to ajc.com for updates.
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