SWAT Officers Called to Decatur Home on South Candler
November 19, 2009 | 10:01 amUPDATE IV: Chief Booker forwarded DPD’s official release on this morning’s incident…
On today’s date, November 19, 2009, at approximately 6:45am. the Decatur Police Department received a trouble unknown call at 621 South Candler Street. Upon the officer’s arrival, it was determined that an armed subject had barricaded himself in the residence. DeKalb County SWAT was notified of the incident and responded to assist. The subject was eventually taken into custody without incident. The subject is under investigation for an incident that occurred in Athens, Georgia. Please contact Athens-Clarke County Police for additional information.
UPDATE III: Sounds like it’s over. The AJC now reports…
At 10:25 a.m., police began leaving the scene.
UPDATE II: WriterChad is tweeting from the scene.
UPDATE: The AJC is now reporting this…
Robin Blocker, who lives nearby, said a man was taken from the residence in handcuffs, but at 10 a.m. police had not confirmed whether the standoff is over. Blocker said police told her the standoff was related to a homicide in Athens.
…A police officer later came to the door, Abuato said, and told her that there was a report that a man inside the house had killed his family in Athens and fled to the Candler Street house, where his mother lives, and was inside with a knife. Abuato said the mother rents out rooms in the home to college students.
Lots of emails this morning inquiring to the police situation on South Candler near Kirk Road and Green. Multiple residents have said that police at the scene are refusing to respond to resident inquiries.
Emily provides a link to an AJC article that says that DeKalb SWAT officers have been called to the scene, but doesn’t give much other info.
Feel free to comment with your own reports.
I’ll contact Decatur PD and try to get more info. Stay tuned.
![Picture of the day [59]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2719/4396648129_4fb55fc8b6_t.jpg "Picture of the day [59]")
I’m terrified that I know the family involved. Does anyone have the address of the house in question?
The address is 621 South Candler. Unfortunately, I also know the family.
It’s over according to AJC
I just saw this on CBS46 web site:
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/21662277/detail.html
“Police in Decatur say they have arrested a man outside a home after summoning a SWAT team after getting reports of an armed man inside.”
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/111909/bre_524658004.shtml
Yep, SWAT’s gone. Only one cop and some crime scene tape.
There was a part in the article where police on the scene refused to respond to resident inquiries. The reason for this is that THEY ARE BUSY TRYING TO CONTAIN THE SITUATION. Because it is an ongoing, active incident that started in another jurisdiction, they are not going to have all the details anyway. The best thing to do in this instance is stay out of the officers way and allow them to do their job and contain the situation.
Thanks, po-po. They’re just trying to do their job and keep everyone safe.
Point well taken, po-po. However some of us in the immediate vicinity were interested in what was going on for more than mere curiosity’s sake. It makes a difference to the neighbors if it’s – say – a broken gas line versus a contained hostage situation versus an armed felon on the run versus a kitten in a tree. Suddenly having half the DPD suddenly appear two blocks away without any explanation is unsettling in the best of circumstances, let alone with no explanation. And I know I should just trust that they’ll tell us what we need to know, but a couple of years ago the police were literally looking for a fleeing felon on our street, and didn’t bother to inform us.
Paula, ok so the police are just supposed to stop in the middle of a situation to give everyone a hand written invitation to what is going on? It does not work like that. There are a lot of situations that the police cannot comment on anything until those situations are resolved. If you are concerned about an incident going on call the Decatur Police on the phone and the operators will advise what they can, which will not be much, but they will be able to advise you whether or not it is safe to be outside or to stay inside. This isn’t “T.J. Hooker”, this is real life. When the situations can be commented on, it will be done by a designated member of the Department.
OK, let’s not turn Paula’s reaction into some sort of menace to the department. DPD knows what they’re doing and knows people will ask questions. It’s not like residents were tapping the SWAT team on the shoulder and asking “What’s up with your helmet?”. I’m sure there were officers on the perimeter to deal with on-lookers. And if question-asking residents were taxing the entire department to the limit, they’d tell us.
Let’s not make mountains out of mole hills.
Settle down there, TJ. I was not knocking the police in this, merely pointing out that citizen requests for information are not always just gossipy looky-loos or rubberneckers. I don’t really have a great solution, but it would have probably taken the officers directing traffic as much time to say “the situation is contained, go about your business” to inquirers as it did for them to refuse comment. And yeah, frankly, if there is an active felon search happening on my street, then I do expect an officer to stop and tell me if I am standing in the yard. But otherwise, I do commend the police in this, who otherwise ended an awful situation peacefully.
The officer directing traffic may not have the latest information and therefore doesn’t want to pass along incorrect information. Also remember that the police has a quasi-military structure and officers are trained to defer to the chain of command for direction and comment. It’s also important in any situation to have a single spokesperson, both for clarity of information and for media access.
Interesting side-note, City of Decatur does not have its own SWAT unit. If there’s ever a situation like this, they have to call Dekalb County. Back during the election, I spoke to a couple of officers who wanted to create one.
Nor do they have K-9 unit. Limited numbers of officers make both these units difficult to organize and maintain for very little usage. I can’t recall the last time Decatur had a SWAT situation.
We don’t need a canine unit. We have roving packs of wild dogs.
Bwahahahaha!!! I dang-near just spit coffee onto my monitor. Yeah, let’s send the DPD into the wilds of McKoy park to round up those feral terriers. They could re-train them into “quivering, snarling, white-hot balls of canine terror”, then loose them onto fleeing felons as needed…
Dude, those “terriers” (aka, pit bull terriers) were roaming again today.
I graduated high school with the perpetrator of this crime. I am shocked and saddened by this.
I think the Decatur police and DeKalb SWAT team did a great job this morning. Although they were not forthcoming with a great deal of information, they directed me appropriately and after an hour and a half, I was able to get back into my home near the area. And my dog was happy, as he got an extra long walk today.