Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Man Surrenders After Standoff in Lawrenceville

A one-year-old child, who was being held with the man inside Lake Sweetwater apartments, was unharmed.

UPDATED: 7 p.m., May 23:

More than seven hours after a standoff began, Neeka Gibbs opened the door to his Lawrenceville apartment and walked out with his one-year-old child. 

The baby was unharmed, and police said Gibbs was also unarmed.

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Gwinnett Police said the incident at 3100 Sweetwater Road in Lawrenceville began about 9:22 a.m., when officers responded to a call about an aggravaed domestic dispute between Gibbs and his girlfriend.

After arriving at the  apartment complex, officers learned that the boyfriend allegedly "shot off a few rounds into the air from a gun as the girlfriend ran out of the apartment to seek help," Cpl. Edwin Ritter said in press statement.

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Police later said the woman escaped the apartment without clothing, and then alerted police that her child was still inside. Police tried negotiating with the boyfriend, but he refused to come out, and at about 12:30 p.m. police decided to seek assistance from SWAT teams.

By 4 p.m., Ritter said in a press release that the incident was still continuing that that "hopefully this will be resolved shortly and peacefully." At the time, police said that Gibbs had not made any threats toward the child or police.

Less than an hour later, about 4:42 p.m., police said Gibbs emerged from inside his apartment after a conversation with negotiators.

"Gibbs was cooperative with SWAT officers," police said in a press statement. "He handed off his daughter and was taken into custody without incident."

Gibbs, 29, is in custody at the Gwinnett County Detention Center, where he is being held on charges of: obstruction of a 911 call, battery, third-degree cruelty to children, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, reckless conduct, and simple assault. 

Additional charges are under investigation. 



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