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Police: SWAT standoff suspect threatened to kill officers, suffers from mental illness

The residence is located on Tuggle Road in Buford near West Rock Quarry Road.
Stephen Morgan

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett Police say they have ended a stand-off with a person who was barricaded inside of a home.

Cpl. Wilburt Rundles with Gwinnett Police said officers were initially called to the home on the 4000 block of Tuggle Road near West Rock Quarry Road Monday night for a dispute. Officers found the suspect, Steven Morgan, had threatened his family members and was in possession of a knife. Police said he brandished the knife in the officers' presence but was not close enough to threaten them directly. Family members told police that Morgan was schizophrenic and officers witnessed him acting erratically.

Officers obtained an arrest warrant for Morgan for making threats against officers and went to serve the warrant at around 10 a.m. Tuesday. However, Morgan refused to leave his home.

"The 30-year-old white male barricaded himself in the house," Rundles said. "We got information that there were weapons in the house and some threats had been made previous to that and the SWAT team was activated out of an abundance of caution."

Credit: Sherrod, Tiffany

Police said Morgan sent threatening text messages to his family and one of the texts threatened to kill police officers.

Around 11:45 a.m., the SWAT team arrived. SWAT team negotiators worked toward a peaceful ending, Rundles said.

Around 3 p.m., SWAT officers fired gas rounds into the home.

Around 3:30 p.m., authorities achieved the goal of a peaceful ending after Morgan told negotiators that he wished to surrender.

No one else was inside the home.

Police said Morgan was evaluated by fire department personnel, then allowed to speak with his family before being transported to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and acts, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

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