Suspect shot dead in standoff with Clayton police

A man involved in a standoff with Clayton County police and sheriff's deputies Wednesday was fatally shot.

The armed robbery and carjacking suspect shot at authorities, who returned fire, police said.

The GBI is investigating the incident, spokesman John Bankhead told the AJC.

The situation began when police responded to an armed robbery at the Divine Flavor Jamaican Restaurant in the 500 block of Flint River Road in Jonesboro just before 4 p.m.

Officers found the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Freddie Burton Jr. of Riverdale, in a nearby apartment complex. He fled the scene while shooting at officers, who shot back, police said.

Burton then carjacked a woman and her 2-year-old daughter, throwing the child from the vehicle, police said.

Officers found Burton in the vehicle on Fairway Court in Riverdale, where he jumped out of the moving vehicle, which went on to strike a house. He then ran into his sister's home in the 9000 block of Fairway Court and barricaded himself inside, police said.

Aerial images from Channel 2 Action News showed a SWAT vehicle directly in front of the home, with officers huddled behind the vehicle.

Police appeared to be urging the suspect to come out of the modest white house with reddish window shutters. An individual could be seen waving an arm in the doorway. For a time, a sharpshooter could be seen lying on the ground behind the SWAT vehicle with what appeared to be a firearm trained on the doorway.

Several homes in the area were evacuated, Channel 2 said.

Attempts to negotiate with Burton failed, and he became "belligerent and boisterous," police said.

Burton fired upon authorities, who returned fire and killed him, police said.