Editor’s note: A previous story incorrectly identified the incident location as being in the Bellingrath Plantation subdivision off state Highway 81
By Joe Johnson
Two juvenile males were in custody Thursday morning for an armed robbery that occurred the day before in Winder.
The suspects, both 16-year-old white males, were alleged to have been the gunmen in the robbery that happened on the front lawn of a house on Monticello Circle, located near state Highway 211 and Hal Jackson Road.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the suspects, both Winder residents, were captured Wednesday night following a manhunt that involved officers from several law enforcement agencies.
The suspects’ identities were withheld because they are juveniles.
The incident began at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when a vehicle occupied by three males and two females drove onto the front lawn of the juvenile victim’s Monticello Court residence and two males exited the vehicle and stole the victim’s backpack at gunpoint.
Smith said that when deputies received information that the suspects’ vehicle was at a house on Giles Road off Atlanta Highway near the Barrow County Airport, deputies went there and took two females into custody. However, three males, including the gunmen, ran off into some woods upon seeing deputies arriving.
A helicopter from the Gwinnett Police Department hovered over the Jasmine Hollow subdivision and used a public address system to alert residents on the ground that they were looking for three white males, one with red hair and another with brown hair, and urging residents to call 911 if they saw the suspects.
Assisting in the search were Barrow County deputies and K-9 units from the Gwinnett County, Lilburn and Auburn police departments.
The juvenile male who did not brandish a gun during the robbery was not charged.
Smith said additional detail about the incident and subsequent arrests will be released Thursday afternoon.
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