SWAT team pulls man from fire engulfed home after standoff

ACWORTH, Ga. - A tense standoff in Cherokee County led to shots being fired, a fire, and eventually the arrest of a 36-year-old man. 

It happened in the normally peaceful Owl Creek Landing subdivision near Acworth around 3:20 p.m. Thursday. Deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene to check on a man after a family reported his son was barricaded inside the home. 

Deputies discovered the front windows of the home had been shot from the inside. The father said his son did have access to a rifle.  

The SWAT team was called to the scene and a negotiator tried to contact the man. At one point, deputies say a rifle was pointed out the window at them and several shots were fired inside the home.  

"We saw it, deputies and investigators and SWAT team members could see him through the windows. He was running back and forth with a rifle, we heard shots inside," said Cherokee County Sheriff's Capt. Jay Baker. 

The SWAT team deployed a "less lethal gas munition" into the home. Deputies say the man likely tried to suppress the gas canister with bedding, but instead sparked a fire, which quickly engulfed the home. 

As the flames spread, the SWAT team entered the home to pull the man out. 

"Once the house caught on fire it started to spread quickly. Our SWAT team rushed into the home and physically got the suspect and drug him outside," said Capt. Baker. 

Cherokee County firefighters wrap up fighting a fire at a home where a SWAT standoff occurred hours earlier in the Owl Creek Landing subdivision near Acworth on March 28, 2024.  (FOX 5)

Deputies say he only received minor injuries. He was taken to Northside Cherokee Hospital for evaluation. 

Two SWAT team members also suffered minor injuries in the rescue. 

The name of the man and charges have not been released. 

The Owl Creek Landing subdivision is located off Peaceful View, just west of Woodstock Road, 30 miles north of Atlanta.