Police identify victims, suspected shooter in Henry County standoff leaving 3 dead
HENRY COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Henry County Police released bodycam video Friday morning of a nearly 16 hour-standoff inside a home that left a pregnant woman and her teenage son dead and 2 police officers wounded, apparently at the hands of the woman's live-in boyfriend who took his own life.
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Police identified the victims as 39-year-old Sandra Renee White of Stockbridge and her son, 16-year-old Arkeyvion White.
Investigators identified the shooter as 47-year-old Anthony Tony Bailey, Jr. of Atlanta.
At a Friday morning news conference, Henry County Police Chief Mark Amerman said a combined SWAT team involving several law enforcement agencies went into the home early Friday morning and found the bodies of the three.
Officers found the woman's body in the garage, the teenager's body in an upstairs bedroom, and the suspect's body in an upstairs back bedroom.
Early indications are that all three died from gunshot wounds.
Earlier Friday, family members of the Whites gave FOX 5's Marc Teichner photographs of the mother and son as well as the suspected shooter.
The family said the 16-year-old attended Dutchtown High School in Henry County.
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In a statement to FOX 5 Atlanta, Henry County Schools spokesperson J.D. Hardin said, "Our thoughts and condolences go out to their family."
Hardin said the school will have counselors on site Monday when students return from Spring Break.
Just before 11 p.m. Thursday, loud "booms" and a series of noises which sounded like gunshots filled the Eagle Ridge subdivision in Stockbridge. Henry County Police said the sound was officers deploying gas into the home, trying to drive out the barricaded man.
Police said the suspect did fire a number of rounds at SWAT officers and their vehicles, but no one was injured at that time.
Chief Amerman told reporters SWAT officers did not return fire as they tried to bring the incident to a peaceful conclusion.
This standoff started at around 10:45 a.m. Thursday after police responded to a trouble unknown call.
Two police officers suffered serious gunshot wounds Thursday morning at the home.
Chief Amerman identified the wounded officers as Officers Keegan Merritt and Taylor Webb, both 7-year veterans of the department.
Officer Webb was flown by an emergency helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the leg and chest.
An ambulance rushed Officer Merritt to Grady in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the hand.
Chief Amerman said Friday both officers were doing well, and he asked for the public to pray from them and the families of the victims.
Police said they had sporadic conversations with the man inside and he did agree at one point to let the teen go, but that never happened.
Police did shrink the perimeter around the home and allowed some subdivision residents back in just before midnight.
For the residents of the Eagle Ridge subdivision, Thursday was a tense day. No one was allowed in or out of the neighborhood including some students who were home on spring break.
"I ain't got no words," said Robert Leonard, who was reunited with his son several hours into the tense standoff.
SEE ALSO: Neighbors left reeling after Henry County standoff
Police were able to sneak the 10-year-old boy out of the neighborhood.
"They got me out by going behind the fence. They got us out by going behind the fence and then walking all around," Tywon Leonard told FOX 5's Doug Evans.
He said he wasn't scared when they did, but his father was a different story.
Yes, I was scared. I'm still scared," Robert Leonard said.
The roads were closed for several hours. Delivery services stymied on how to navigate the police roadblocks.
So were other families with their own unique reason for wanting to get home.
"I just ran over the pharmacy to get some medicine and I left my 5-year-old son with my dad that's sickly, and now I can't get back to them," said Tanya Maness, who lives nearby.
Henry County has endured multiple shootings of police officers in the past two years.
In December, Henry County Police Officer Michael Smith was shot at a dentist's office and died of his wounds about three weeks later. Employees at the dentist's office had called police about a man who had been acting erratically, and Smith was shot as he confronted the man.
In February 2018, Locust Grove Police Officer Chase Maddox, 26, was shot in the head and killed in the Henry County town he patrolled. Two Henry County sheriff's deputies were also wounded in that shooting as the three law officers tried to serve an arrest warrant at a home.
In a statement Friday, Henry County District Attorney Darius Pattilo said, "Our hearts go out to the families of those who tragically lost their lives yesterday and who were injured. We also thank the entire law enforcement community for the bravery and professionalism they exhibited yesterday."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.