ATLANTA — A man is dead and an 8-year-old boy is safe after SWAT officers responded to reports of gunfire in a southwest Atlanta home.
Police were called to a house on Burbank Drive, just off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, around 1:10 a.m. Thursday.
They say when officers arrived, they heard one gunshot inside the home and found a woman and child outside, who were not hurt. The woman identified herself as the wife of the gunman and told officers an 8-year-old boy was still inside.
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Officers established a wide perimeter around the home and tried to make contact with the suspect using loudspeakers, but were unsuccessful. SWAT units showed up with search and arrest warrants to enter the house.
Police say once inside, they found a man dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They located the 8-year-old boy unharmed in a separate room.
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Family members declined to speak with Channel 2 Action News, but police say the woman reported that her husband was having a mental health crisis because of the death of a loved one.
Police blocked Burbank Drive for several hours and cleared the scene by late morning.