Deputies chasing believed gun and car thieves from Rockdale County arrested five suspects after they wrecked a stolen truck in DeKalb County.
A man and woman were taken to the hospital and another woman was arrested immediately after the wreck, and two more suspects hid for nearly three hours in a wooded area near Turner Hill Road, authorities said.
The five-person crew stole the white Ford F-150 from a home in Newton County on Wednesday, Newton County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Courtney Morrison told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sometime earlier this morning, Morrison said Covington Police were called to a burglary report where the stolen truck was described as the getaway vehicle.
“They also attempted to steal a vehicle there,” she said. “Then they went to another address in the county and attempted another break-in.”
Later in the morning, a second robbery was reported in Rockdale with the same truck again described as the getaway vehicle, Rockdale County Sheriff’s spokesman Investigator Michael Camp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Firearms were stolen from at least one of the locations,” Camp said.
A Rockdale deputy spotted the vehicle headed east on I-20 back toward Newton County and followed, but lost the vehicle when the suspects exited at Georgia Highway 138, authorities said.
“Deputies spotted the car again going westbound (on I-20) at Sigmund Road and gave chase,” Camp said. “The vehicle wrecked at Turner Hill Road” in DeKalb County.
Two of the suspects ran, abandoning weapons in the wrecked pick-up, police said.
DeKalb County Police, Newton County Sheriff’s deputies and state troopers set up a perimeter to assist with the search, Camp said.
By 3 p.m., the remaining suspects were located, Morrison said.
“They were exactly where law enforcement thought they were going to be,” she said. “They had shed their clothes and they were only in their boxers.”
This is the second time in as many months that Rockdale Sheriff's deputies chased a presumed armed suspect into DeKalb.
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