ATLANTA — The investigation continued Friday into the deaths of two Cobb County deputies and the arrests of two suspects.
The string of incidents unfolded throughout the evening Thursday and into early Friday after deputies attempted to serve a warrant in a usually quiet neighborhood, authorities said.
“My two deputies were ambushed this evening and killed,” Sheriff Craig Owens said during a news conference early Friday morning. “Our hearts are broken here in Cobb County.”
More details are expected to be released Friday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
The incident happened in the Hampton Glen subdivision near Irwin and John Ward roads as the deputies were returning to their patrol vehicles after knocking on the door of the suspects’ home and finding no answer, Owens said. They were attempting to serve a warrant for failure to appear in court on a theft by deception charge.
After the deputies were shot, they were able to call for help, Owens confirmed. An hourslong SWAT standoff followed at a home on Hampton Glen Court. It ended sometime after midnight.
The names of the deputies, who are the first in Cobb to be killed in the line of duty in more than 30 years, have not been released. Owens said both had been with the sheriff’s office for more than five years.
An ambulance followed by multiple police vehicles left the scene shortly before 10 p.m.
“What words can you say when you lose your family member? And those words don’t come easy. But just speaking straight from the heart, I will say pray for us because we need it,” said Owens, who was at his birthday party when he got the tragic news.
At least one suspect remained barricaded for hours inside the home, authorities said. Another man was handcuffed at the scene earlier in the evening. Both were taken into custody, but their names were not released. Owens could not confirm if both fired shots.
Cobb County police are investigating the incident.
Officers were still at the scene early Friday. But by early afternoon, the neighborhood was again quiet, with some people driving by to look at the brick home that became a crime scene.
Law enforcement officers across several agencies in Cobb and surrounding counties gathered into the early hours of Friday, some visibly upset, others crying and hugging each other. Several metro area sheriffs attended the news conference, along with new GBI Director Michael Register. Owens said Gov. Brian Kemp also called and offered state resources.
“Our condolences go out to Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office after the loss of two deputies tonight in the line of duty,” the GBI wrote on social media.
Jennifer Tompkins, who has lived in the Hampton Glen subdivision since she was 11, wasn’t able to get back into her neighborhood. The nurse was driving home from her shift at Northside Hospital about 8 p.m. when she found the entrance to her subdivision blocked by dozens of cop cars.
“It’s crazy,” said Tompkins, whose mother and sister also have homes in the typically quiet subdivision. “Nothing like this has ever happened here.”
She and her older sister, Loren Morgan, said their neighborhood Facebook group was abuzz with people sharing photos and videos from their doorbell cameras. Residents were warned to lock their doors and stay inside their homes, they said.
Several families stood outside Cheatham Hill Elementary School waiting for the scene to clear.
Caryn Forbes brought her son home from his football game just after 9 p.m. but wasn’t able to get back into their subdivision.
“It’s a great neighborhood,” said Forbes, who has lived there for about two years. “This is really surprising.”
The investigation at the Hampton Glen Court home continued early Friday morning as officers came and went. The front door was busted out of its frame, as were several front windows. Inside an illuminated dining room, family photos and memorabilia sat just beyond shattered panes of glass.
Sean Brogan, who raised his family in the neighborhood and has lived there for more than 20 years, said he didn’t know the two men who lived at the home by name. They were the kind of neighbors who nodded and waved when Brogan and his wife passed by on one of their daily walks.
The men were in their late 20s to mid-30s, Brogan said. He believed a woman lived there as well.
“They would be out here tossing a baseball or football,” he said. “A small dog would run around every once in a while, but very friendly.”
Brogan became emotional thinking of the families of the two deputies waking up Friday without their loved ones. There are law enforcement officers who live in the neighborhood, but he said they rarely see police activity there.
The deputies are the fourth and fifth Georgia law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty this year. Eight officers were killed while serving in 2021.
On July 31, a Spalding County deputy died after a large pine tree fell on his vehicle while he was driving, the sheriff’s office said.
Prior to Thursday night, only one Cobb deputy had been killed in the line of duty, according to the Officers Down Memorial Page, which tracks deaths of law enforcement officers. On April 27, 1990, Deputy Sheriff Donald Terry Garrison was killed in a crash.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writers Alexis Stevens and Chelsea Prince and photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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