An apartment burglary in Peachtree City late Friday morning set off a police chase that ran through Tyrone and south Fulton County.
A Tyrone police officer tried to pull over a black Buick Lucerne with a U.S. Army auto tag that had fled the scene, but the driver refused to stop and continued on Ga. Highway 74 into Fairburn, onto Interstate 85 and then Ga. Highway 138 in Union City.
A Fayette sheriff’s deputy used stop sticks to puncture the tires of the vehicle at Hwy. 138 and Westbridge Road, but the suspects continued fleeing and managed to lose law enforcement long enough to ditch the car in a subdivision behind an elementary school near the intersection of highways 138 and 279.
The suspects, described as black males, one about 5’9” and the other about 6’2” with an athletic build, fled the area on foot. Deputies searched for nearly two hours with the Hawk 1 helicopter in the air and sheriff’s bloodhounds on the ground tracking the route of at least one of the suspects. The trail ended near a MARTA bus stop, said Maj. Bryan Woodie of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.
The burglary occurred around 11:30 a.m. at The Retreat at Kedron Village apartment complex on Hyacinth Lane, and it was similar to several other apartment burglaries that have occurred in the daytime in Peachtree City, said Capt. Rosanna Dove of the Peachtree City Police Department.
It was believed that firearms were taken from the residence, according to initial police radio reports from the scene.
Dove said Peachtree City was appreciative of the help from Tyrone police and Fayette sheriff’s deputies along with the other agencies who assisted in the operation: the Fairburn, Union City and Fulton County police departments.
A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons who committed this crime. If anyone has information that would assist the Police Department in these or other incidents, please contact the Peachtree City Criminal Investigations Division at 770-631-2510 or the Peachtree City Police Department’s Crime and Narcotics Information Hotline at (770) 487-6010. Callers may remain anonymous.
