Police End Standoff with 15 Year-Old Teen Suspected of Stealing Police Car and Barricading Himself in Home

Updated: The police have used tear gas to coax the suspect out of his home and he is now in custody.  The suspect's age has not been confirmed, and there are reports that he may be 15 and not 13 years old, as earlier reported.

Police activity in and around the neighborhoods of Mozley Park this morning is due to a man hunt for a teen that is suspected of stealing an East Point police cruiser and crashing it near Mosley Place and Chicamauga Avenue.

According to early reports by the AJC, the suspect was, "wearing a green shirt with a scar on his face."  Anyone that knows the Mozley Park area, knows there are lots of places to hide, including the area around the train tracks and a bunch of short cuts through various neighborhoods and backyards.

WSB reports that, "investigators said the car was stolen at about 9 a.m. Wednesday following a wreck near Oakland and Main streets in East Point."  It is believed that the suspect crashed a rental car on Astor Avenue in East Point, and was put into the back of a police car.  The suspect then somehow got into the front of the vehicle and managed to drive off with the police cruiser.

As of 10:30 a.m. Atlanta Police officers were still in the Mozley Park area looking for the suspect.  Soon after, police focused their attention on a home within the 1300 block of Gideons Drive where the suspect has barricaded himself.  The AJC reports that the home is in fact where the teenager lives and that, "a SWAT team has been called to the house, and police negotiators are working with one of the teen’s parents to talk him out of the home."

The suspect refused to engage with negotiators or even his mother, so SWAT deployed canisters of tear gas inside the home.  The suspect came out of the home was placed in custody, after a nearly 3 hour standoff.