ATHENS, Ga. — Police say a man accused of carjacking a vehicle at an Athens park is dead after a tense confrontation with police on Saturday morning.
Athens-Clarke County Police said that officers received multiple calls around 10:40 a.m. to reports of a man with a gun in Walker Park on Trail Creek Street in Athens. However, as they were responding, police said they received another call that a man had carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint in the park.
When officers arrived, they found the man in the vehicle.
"The subject got out of the vehicle with a gun and began making demands," police said in a statement released on Sunday afternoon. "Officers gave multiple commands for the subject to put his weapon down."
But police said he didn't comply.
"At one point, shots were fired. The subject was struck and later pronounced deceased at the scene," police said.
The case has since been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the officers involved have been placed on administrative assignment per department policy. The deceased has not yet been identified pending the notification of his family. No officers were injured.
While not saying for certain that the man in Sunday's incident was tied to a previous one, the department did mention an incident that happened near the same park a day earlier.
Police said that they were called to the 500 block of Vine Street around 5 p.m. that day to reports a man was walking with a long gun and "attempting to get into altercations with strangers."
Police said that, as they were searching for the person, they received a call from the Walker park area regarding a man shooting a gun at a woman in her vehicle. The woman got away uninjured but the incident led to an extensive search just hours before the Sunday confrontation that proved fatal.
Police are asking anyone with information about the incidents to contact Captain Christopher Nichols at 762-400-7161 or email Christopher.Nichols@accgov.com.