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Officers shoot, kill armed suspect during Gwinnett County SWAT situation

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Updated  July 22, 2022 5:46pm EDT
Loganville
FOX 5 Atlanta

Roommate dispute ends in officer-involved shooting

A Gwinnett County man was shot and killed by police after investigators said he pointed a gun at officers. It started early morning when that man confronted his roommate, who was trying to leave.

LOGANVILLE, Ga. - Gwinnett County police have killed a suspect during a SWAT situation at a Loganville home Friday morning.

Officials told FOX 5 around 1:20 a.m. Friday, officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department's Bay Creek Precinct responded to a domestic call regarding a man armed with a gun at a home on Templeton Lane and Templeton Drive in Loganville.

"Just as I was ready to leave he pulled the vehicle up behind my car and blocked me in. He just blocked my vehicle, so I couldn't leave, and then he comes outside with a 357 pointing it at me," the victim, who was visibly shaken, told FOX 5.

According to investigators, the man called police telling them his roommate, later identified as being 63-year-old Leonard Hollingsworth, was stopping him from leaving the home and had fired at least one shot.

"Just pointing the gun at me, and starts banging on the window with the butt of the gun, and the gun fires and discharges into the air," the man said.

When officers arrived at the scene, the victim was able to escape and an armed suspect retreated into the home. Officials said they then learned that an elderly woman was still inside the home with Hollingsworth.

(Gwinnett County Police Department)

For the next five hours, a SWAT team attempted to negotiate with the man. During that time police said he pointed firearms at the SWAT's vehicle and said Hollingsworth was going to shoot officers.  

"We heard them telling the guy to get out the house and that the swat team is there they are not going to leave," one neighbor told FOX 5.

Just before 7:15 a.m., the suspect left the home using the back door and pointed the gun at SWAT officers in the backyard. Police said two officers fire, hitting and killing Hollingsworth.

Investigators said the victim was planning to move out because of Hollingsworth's continued erratic behaviour. 

Investigators have not released the identity of the victim.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to perform an independent investigation into the shooting.