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Early morning Cherokee highway standoff ends in Toccoa man’s suicide

I-575 SB closed in Cherokee while police look for armed man
By
April 15, 2013

Authorities on Monday identified the man whose Sunday morning standoff with police along a Cherokee County interstate ended with his suicide as James Allen Woods, 30, of Toccoa.

Tanya Smith, a spokesperson for the Holly Springs Police Department said that at about 7:30 a.m., Woods pulled over to the side of I-575 South into the wood line near Sixes Road.

Wearing a bullet proof vest, he sat in his car with a gun to his head for about two hours.

Smith said Woods shot himself around 9:25 a.m.

“Detectives are still working to try to piece together what prompted Mr. Woods to take his life,” Smith said in a Monday morning e-mail.

Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.

About the Author

Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.

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