A 53-year-old Cherokee County man was shot to death by police after allegedly robbing a drug store, a gas station and then leading officers on a chase into Cobb County, investigators said Monday.
The chase ended on I-75 south, where Jerome George “Jerry” Cundy allegedly pointed a firearm at officers, according to police. Woodstock officers shot and killed Cundy, of a Woodstock address, Sunday morning. His name was released Monday afternoon by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The incident forced investigators to shut down the interstate for more than five hours, leaving only the emergency lane open for travelers until late Sunday afternoon.
Cundy allegedly robbed a Marathon station on Bells Ferry Road at Victoria Road in Woodstock, according to a statement from Lt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee Sheriff’s office. The suspect in the armed robbery, believed to be Cundy, and his vehicle matched the description in another armed robbery at a Walgreens in Cobb County earlier in the morning.
Police were dispatched to the Marathon robbery at 9:39 a.m. and Woodstock police followed the suspect into Cobb County around 10:15 a.m., Baker said.
Two Woodstock police officers chased the suspect on I-575 south into Cobb County, Baker said. Several officers attempted to stop the suspect, who refused to stop. Police followed the vehicle onto I-75 south and stopped the car near exit 263.
After the suspect pointed a firearm at the officers, officers shot and killed the suspect, police said.
The GBI is investigating the police-involved shooting, and took 3D photographs at the scene using a high-tech laser scanning device, said John Bankhead, a GBI spokesman. The Woodstock officers involved in the shooting have been placed on routine administrative leave.
Cundy’s daughter, Jennifer Cooper, told Channel 2 Action News her father had fallen on hard times, but was not a violent person.
“I know he robbed some stores but he was my father, he’s not that kind of man,” Cooper said. “If you look at his background that’s not him. He fell on hard times.”
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