Atlanta

SWAT swarms apartments as man tears down walls to avoid arrest

MARIETTA, Ga. — Police are still searching for a man suspected of aggravated battery after a six-hour standoff in Cobb County.

SWAT was at the scene of an apartment in Marietta after spending hours trying to arrest the suspect.

According to Marietta police, SWAT team members were asked to help Atlanta police arrest the suspect they said was inside an apartment at The Park on Windy Hill in the 2000 block of Windy Hill Road.

Drivers were asked to avoid the area on Windy Hill Road for more than six hours.

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Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was there as police searched the complex.

They said Maliek Dandridge, 27, was in an attic space and broke through walls and a ceiling to other units. Just before noon, the standoff ended. Police went door-to-door in the complex.

Neighbors were then evacuated.

“Just came and knocked on our door at six o’clock in the morning, told us to get out the apartment," one neighbor told us.

Marietta police said they think Dandridge was there at some point then ran. They thought he had a gun, or access to weapons and weren’t taking any chances.

“They thought he was busting through the ceilings, through the walls to get to one apartment to other, trying to escape. But they came through and cleared each and every one of the 12 apartments and he’s not here," said Chuck McPhilamy with the Marietta Police Department.

Authorities did not find Dandridge. They are still looking for him.