An unnamed man died Jan. 16 after a home invasion in Tyrone, wrecking the stolen car near Line Creek on Palmetto Road just inside the Coweta County line and exchanging gunfire with officers from Coweta and Fayette counties and the Georgia State Patrol (GSP).
Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager on Tuesday said it was not immediately clear if the man died from the shoot-out with officers, by being self-inflicted or from injuries he received from the wreck.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is investigating the incident at the request of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office.
Preliminary information provided by authorities indicated that on Jan. 16 at approximately 10 p.m., deputies responded to a Coweta County 911 call of a stolen car that hit a guardrail on (Interstate 85). The subject (later) exited the stolen car and left the area before Coweta deputies could locate him, according to a GBI press release.
Yeager said the man left the interstate, pulled into a yard at the Palmetto Pines subdivision on Collinsworth Road and abandoned the vehicle.
“A short distance from the abandoned stolen car, the subject then conducted a home invasion in Tyrone, looking for a vehicle. The subject was confronted by the homeowner and the homeowner shot at the subject,” the GBI press release said.
Tyrone Police Chief Brandon Perkins said the location of the home invasion was a residence on Ridge Road where the homeowner was held at gunpoint. Off Briarwood Road, Ridge Road is approximately one mile from the Palmetto Pines subdivision.
Tyrone officers were called and responded to the residence, Perkins said.
The man left the area prior to the arrival of Tyrone officers and made his way to Palmetto Road/Collinsworth Road in the stolen vehicle and headed toward Coweta County a short distance away.
“The subject stole the homeowner’s vehicle and Fayette County deputies initiated a chase,” GBI said. “Coweta deputies and GSP set up a roadblock at the Fayette/Coweta line where the subject wrecked the vehicle.”
Coweta and Fayette deputies along with the Georgia State Patrol were stationed at the roadblock just over Line Creek, approximately 2,000 feet away from Briarwood Road.
GBI in the press relese said the subject exited the vehicle with a weapon and shot at officers. The officers returned fire and the subject died as a result of his injuries.
Yeager said the man attempted to go around the roadblock and wrecked the stolen vehicle. The exchange of gunfire resulted when he began firing at officers, said Yeager, noting that it is not currently known what led to the man’s death, whether shots by officers, or self-inflicted or by injuries sustained after he flipped the vehicle while attempting to avoid the roadblock.
Yeager and GBI said no officers were injured during the incident.
The name of the home invader has not been released.
GBI said an autopsy was scheduled to be conducted Jan. 17 at the GBI’s Medical Examiner’s Office in Decatur.
