COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Officers shot and killed a man Wednesday on Chastain Road at Interstate 75, according to Cobb County Police. Investigators said they believe the man they shot was possibly involved in a previous incident on Sunday in which an officer was shot at in the Cumberland Mall parking lot.
Since Sunday, detectives had been working to find out who shot at the officer, who was not hurt.
"Due to the hard work and consistent, persistent work of our officers and detectives, we were able to develop a suspect (in the Sunday shooting) and obtain a warrant earlier this week," Stuart VanHoozer, the Cobb County Police Department's acting chief, said Wednesday night. "Since that time, we have been working to take that suspect into custody."
VanHoozer said officers conducted a traffic stop at 5 p.m. Wednesday. They stopped the SUV on the Chastain Road bridge over I-75. Officers believed the suspect, identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as Demarco Mauge, 20, of Duluth, was who they had been searching for since the weekend.
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There were two people inside the vehicle when Mauge -- the passenger -- pulled out a handgun, according to VanHoozer. Authorities said several officers shot him and he was killed. The driver of the vehicle was not hurt and he was taken into custody, where he was being interviewed Wednesday night. No officers were hurt during the incident, VanHoozer said, and police were not looking for anyone else in Sunday's incident.
VanHoozer added Mauge had a "very distinct handgun" with a unique color. He said the handgun resembles the firearm seen on security cam video at Sunday's incident in the Cumberland Mall parking lot. VanHoozer also said the person in the SUV Wednesday matched the description of the gunman in the security cam video from Sunday. He added he expected the investigation would confirm that the gun and the gunman killed Wednesday are a match.
Jennifer Barrera, of Marietta, was driving nearby with five children on spring break when the gunfire erupted, and she said being so close was "scary," for all of them.
The children, including Sophie Rakita, said they heard “several shots” in quick succession. They said they are frightened realizing they had almost driven right by the incident as it unfolded.
“Now I’ve got to be like, 'Is there going to be a shooting when I’m driving on the roads? In my everyday life',” Sophie wondered, who, at 15, was looking forward to getting her driver's license.
VanHoozer said this was a tragedy, one that was caused by the gunman.
"In this case, this is a tragedy for us," he said. "This is not how we wanted this to turn out. Our condolences and prayers go out to the family of this subject."
“They’re criminals," Sophie added, "but they’re still humans and we should still be praying for them, too.”
The GBI is investigating the shooting and the actions of the officers who were involved.