Teen in SWAT standoff convinced to surrender by parents, police say

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The father of the teenager accused of holding a family at gunpoint and causing a standoff is apologizing for him.

Cecelia Jackson was sleeping Monday morning when her son and husband confronted a teen who was breaking into their black SUV around 8:30 a.m.

"It hasn't really hit me yet. I think once I sit down I'll probably fall apart," Jackson told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes.

Police said once confronted, the teenage suspect held her son at gunpoint and forced him into the house on Appleton Court in Decatur.

At that point, police believe that the suspect thought the son and his father were the only ones home.

Jackson told Fernandes that she was stunned when she saw the teen in the house.

“I heard the commotion. I looked out the door and I saw him going down the stairs following my son and husband with the shotgun,” Jackson said.

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She said she grabbed her cellphone and the house phone and locked herself in a bathroom.

Jackson’s son and husband found a moment where the suspect was distracted and ran out of the house.

SWAT and police surrounded the home. Jackson said she doesn’t believe the suspect ever knew she was there.

She heard him talking to his parents on the phone saying he was going to jail.

The suspect's parents asked Jackson for forgiveness.

"Please forgive him. He's 15 years old. He's been going through a lot," the teen's father said. "He told me he did not want to go back to jail."

Jackson told Fernandes that she forgives the teen and thinks our youth in general need some serious help.

“He’s 15. He still has time to straighten it out. He needs some help, he needs some guidance, hopefully he gets it,” Jackson said.

The suspect's parents told Fernandes they're glad their son in police custody because he ran away from a program he was in.

He was already on probation for breaking into cars and they hope this incident wakes him up and gets him on the right track.

Cox Media Group