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At least two people safely escape Atlanta bank where man claimed to have bomb
Suspect dead after hours-long hostage standoff at bank near Atlanta
(about 2 hours later)
Police said at least two people who were inside an Atlanta-area bank with a man they claimed to have a bomb made it out of the building safely, after a military-type vehicle smashed through a back wall of the building.
A man who claimed to have a bomb that could “take out the room” barricaded himself inside a suburban Atlanta bank on Friday, sparking an hours-long standoff that forced police to burst through a brick wall of the building and ended with the suspect’s death.
The Cobb County police sergeant Dana Pierce said early on Friday afternoon that the people were not injured, and police were trying to determine how to resolve the situation with the man inside.
Cobb County police chief Mike Register did not offer details of how the man died. Two people were freed shortly after TV footage showed a military-type vehicle smashing its way through the wall, raining bricks on to its hood. It was not clear if they escaped through the wall opening.
Moments earlier, the large military-type vehicle was used to smash its way through a back wall of the Wells Fargo branch, raining bricks on to its hood. Pierce declined to say how exactly the people in the bank were able to get out, but his report that they were safe came shortly after the maneuver with the vehicle.
Several heavily armed police officers had converged on the bank earlier in the day. Police had said the man inside the bank branch near Marietta had made threats and was inside with an unknown number of employees.
Police did not release details about threats the man made. Atlanta television station WSB-TV reported earlier that a man called and told an assignment editor he was inside the bank and had a bomb and two people with him. The man said the bomb had the power to “take out the room”.
Police limited the amount of information they made public, saying the suspect might be monitoring news coverage and social media, Cobb County police officer Alicia Chilton said in a statement.
The station reported that the man said he did not want to hurt anyone and that if he decided to detonate the bomb, he would let the two people go.
WSB-TV in Atlanta reported the station received a call on Friday morning from a man who said he was inside the bank and talked for more than 30 minutes. The man told the station’s assignment desk that he had a bomb and two people with him.
Several heavily armed police officers then converged on the bank. Police evacuated customers from fast-food restaurants and other businesses. Many officers wore tactical gear and carried “long guns”, or rifles.
The man said he didn’t intend to hurt anyone, the station reported.
The Cobb County police officer Alicia Chilton said in an earlier statement no one inside the bank had been harmed, adding that police were limiting information shared because the suspect might be monitoring news coverage and social media.
In the station’s video account of the conversation, the man can be heard saying that the bomb had the power to “take out the room”.
The Cobb County department of transportation said in a brief statement that a stretch of a heavily traveled road in the area was closed due to police activity. The agency was advising motorists to avoid the area.
