ATLANTA — A man was shot and killed overnight after a tense SWAT standoff outside a Roswell gas station Tuesday, according to Roswell Police.
At this time, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been brought in to independently investigate the situation, per custom.
Roswell Police said just before midnight Tuesday, they received a call about a suspicious person at the RaceTrac on E. Crossville Road. The GBI said in a release later that the man "was acting erratically." He was also asked by employees to leave after being at the gas station for hours, the GBI stated.
There, the first officers found the man, later identified as 28-year-old Raheem Freeman, visibly armed with a handgun. They said he refused to follow their instructions and barricaded himself at the front of the store. Thankfully, all employees were evacuated.
Soon, North Fulton SWAT (which basically consists of Roswell, Alpharetta, and Milton officers) arrived on the scene and stayed for nearly two hours, according to authorities.
Police said negotiators tried to convince the suspect to surrender but he would not speak or put down his gun.
At that point, officers said the SWAT team "deployed several less-lethal options" but those did not work either.
As the team began their approach on the suspect, they said he fired at them, so they shot back.
After being shot, Freeman was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.
This is the 69th officer involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2023.
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