Crime & Safety
Man Killed By Cobb SWAT Team Identified: GBI
A man shot a Cobb County police officer at point-blank range Sunday and led officers on a three-hour manhunt, ending in the suspect's death.
COBB COUNTY, GA — One man is dead after a three-hour manhunt and two officer-involved shootings Sunday afternoon, Cobb County police said.
Around 4 p.m. Sunday, Cobb police were dispatched to a home on North Shores Road on a domestic dispute call. The officer first to arrive spoke to the man reported to be involved in the dispute, said Sgt. Wayne Delk, a spokesperson for the Cobb County Police Department.
While speaking to the officer, the suspect — now identified as Luis Rey Ruiz, 20, of Kennesaw — pulled out his gun and shot the officer at point-blank range, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The shot hit the officer in the area of his protective vest.
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"The vest actually, possibly, saved the officer's life," Delk said to the Marietta Daily Journal.
The officer fired back at Ruiz and struck him, but he fled the scene and led police on a three-hour manhunt searching for him. Police and Cobb County SWAT found him in the same neighborhood where they say he shot the arriving officer, and around 7:30 p.m. SWAT team members shot and killed him, per the news release.
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Delk said he could not provide information on what led to the shooting. The arriving officer shot by Ruiz was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover from his injuries, GBI officials said.
The GBI has taken over the investigation into the incident, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings. Once the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the Cobb County District Attorney's office for review.
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