A home invasion burglary suspect was shot and killed by police Monday morning after he confronted Gwinnett County officers outside an apartment near Norcross.
Gwinnett police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said that about 7:30 a.m., the suspect, 24-year-old Eric Andrews, forced entry into an apartment at the Woodland Ridge complex off Indian Trail Road, where two children were home alone.
“The two kids made it out of the apartment safely and contacted a neighbor, who called police,” Ritter said in an e-mail.
“The first responding officer was confronted by the suspect as he exited the apartment,” Ritter said.
Police said Andrews was holding a tire iron, which he was repeatedly told to drop.
“Mr. Andrews was within lunging distance to the officer (within a couple feet) and raised the tire iron in an offensive manner toward the officer,” Ritter said. “The officer had no other alternative but to respond to the deadly force from Mr. Andrews with deadly force.”
The officer shot Andrews once in the chest, and Andrews dropped the tire iron and ran in the opposite direction before collapsing, police said.
Andrews, of Atlanta, was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center, where he later died. The officer was placed on routine administrative leave.
Neither the officer nor the children who were alone in the apartment were injured.
Ritter said the children are 12 and 13.
“Apparently, the mother left early for work and they were waiting to go to school when this happened,” he said.
Badia Tyler lives just above the apartment where the home invasion took place.
She said she “didn’t hear a thing, and I was up. I’ve been up since 5 this morning.”
She said that while she didn’t know the young boy and girl who lived with their family in the apartment below, “I see them going in and coming out, and they were always with their parents.”
“So I was surprised that they were home alone, but I thank God they had the presence of mind to run,” Tyler said.
“That’s scary for them,” she said. “My heart goes out to the family, because it could have been worse.”
The investigation is continuing.
—Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.
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