DULUTH, Ga. — Body camera video shows the moments a SWAT team took down a man accused of pointing a rifle at a woman who was unloading her groceries.
Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson was on Park Bluff Lane in Duluth Wednesday, where it took hours for police to have a nearby resident surrender.
Neighbors were evacuated as police worked to negotiate with 19-year-old Venislav Petrushev, who was walking around his garage on Willowgrove Way with an AR-15.
On the other side of the incident, Petrushev’s family said it was all a misunderstanding.
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A woman told police a man had pointed an AR-15 at her while she unloaded groceries.
“I saw him just pointing the gun at me, and he was screaming at me as well, I was so scared, I ran to my house,” the victim told Channel 2 Action News.
An officer, responding to the scene, said he saw Petrushev in his garage, and that the 19-year-old refused orders to put the weapon down.
Instead, body camera footage from the Duluth Police Department showed Petrushev lowering his garage door.
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That’s what triggered a SWAT standoff. Neighbors were asked to evacuate the area in case of gunfire. Two hours after, Petrushev was in custody.
On the body camera footage, he’s seen questioning officers.
“You’re not going to tell me what I did wrong please?” he asked.
An officer responded to him, saying he had not listened to orders.
When police entered the home, they conducted a search and found an empty AR-15 under Petrushev’s bed.
The teenager’s relatives said Petrusheve was cleaning his gun and hadn’t pointed it at anyone.
He remains in jail without bond, according to public records.
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