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(Lawrenceville, Georgia, April 11, 2013) The Gwinnett County 911 Center received a call from Lauren Brown (white male, 55 years old) at 3:41 p.m. on April 10, 2013. Brown lived at 2440 Walnut Grove Way, Suwanee, Georgia. The home is located in unincorporated Gwinnett County. He told the call taker that he was having a medical emergency and requested help. Five EMT/Firefighters from the Gwinnett County Fire Department (GCFD) responded to Brown’s residence, arriving at 3:48 p.m.

The responding GCFD personnel encountered Brown in his bedroom, lying in bed. He seemed to be suffering from a condition that restricted his movement. At about 3:54 p.m. Brown produced a hand gun and held the fire department personnel at gunpoint. Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) officers began responding at that time. The first officer arrived on scene at 4:05 p.m. and a SWAT team call out was initiated at 4:07 p.m. Officers quickly created a security perimeter around the house.

Contact was established with Brown via the firefighter’s radio. He relayed demands to police through the radio via one of the hostages. He would continue to do so for most of the incident. One of Brown’s initial demands was that the responding fire truck and ambulance be moved from in front of his house. Brown released one of the hostages to move those vehicles as the first police officer arrived at 4:07 p.m. This left a total of four hostages still inside. Brown relayed his other initial demands via the hostage’s radio: 1) that power be restored to his house, 2) that his cell phone be reactivated, 3) that his internet and television be restored. Each of these demands was accompanied by a deadline. The utilities were not deactivated by police. As officers contacted the utility companies, they found that each of the accounts had been deactivated for nonpayment.

Members of GCPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team made contact with Brown and attempted a negotiation. He repeated his initial demands and said that more demands would follow, however, he flatly refused to release additional hostages. In an effort to buy time for negotiations and tactical planning, the initial demands were met. Over the course of the incident, several more conversations took place between Brown and negotiators. During these conversations, Brown continued to refuse to release his hostages. He also refused to participate in any conversation that did not address his demands. Brown repeatedly told negotiators that he was in control and the police were not. At about 5:15 p.m., Brown demanded that officers bring wood and tools to his home and board up his windows and doors. He gave a deadline of 7:30 p.m. At about 6:30 p.m. Brown made a demand for food to be delivered to the house, for himself and his hostages.

While negotiations were ongoing, the SWAT Team and the Hazardous Devices Unit (HDU) began preparing a rescue operation. A plan was put in place to enter the house and rescue the hostages should negotiations fail. As the 7:30 p.m. deadline approached, negotiators became convinced that Brown would not release the hostages even if his demands were met. The decision was made to proceed with the rescue plan rather than comply with the demand to further barricade Brown’s home.

Just before 7:30 p.m. SWAT officers moved into position to begin the rescue plan. At the request of negotiators, Brown allowed two of the hostages to leave the bedroom to retrieve the food delivery. A SWAT officer approached the house under the guise of delivering the food. The rescue plan was initiated as the 7:30 p.m. deadline expired. Rescue teams made up of SWAT officers entered the house from various points, deploying noise-light diversion devices. The two hostages that were allowed to leave the bedroom were quickly evacuated. The SWAT officers yelled verbal commands to Brown as they entered his bedroom. Brown did not comply with the verbal commands and immediately began firing shots at the first officer to enter the bedroom. The first officer was struck in the left forearm by one of the shots. The injured officer returned fire, striking and killing Brown. No other officers fired their weapons. The two remaining hostages took cover in the bedroom and received only minor injuries.

The injured officer was evacuated to a waiting ambulance. He was treated at the scene by EMTs and transported to Gwinnett Medical Center. His injuries were considered non-life threatening. The officer underwent surgery this morning (4/11/13). He is expected to make a full recovery. The four evacuated hostages were also transported to Gwinnett Medical Center with minor injuries.
After the incident was concluded, officers learned that Brown had ordered the hostages to gather chairs, ropes and tape in order to further restrict their movements. After interviewing the hostages, officers learned that Brown claimed to have been planning this event for several weeks. He told his hostages that he targeted fire fighters rather than police so that he would not be shot when he attempted to take hostages. Brown never made his ultimate goals clear to the hostages or to negotiators. He did express a desire for his family to witness what was happening. A total of 6 guns were located in house.

This incident is currently under investigation by the Deadly Force Investigation Team (DFIT). DFIT is made up of members of the Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit, District Attorney’s Office, and Medical Examiner’s Office. A concurrent investigation is being conducted by the Internal Affairs Unit.

Source: Gwinnett County Police