Police said a welfare check led to gunfire, a barricade response and two death investigations.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Two people were found dead Sunday inside an East Cobb home after a welfare check on Vandiver Drive turned into an hourslong SWAT standoff involving gunfire, crisis negotiators and an officer-involved shooting, police said.
The case began with concern for a woman believed to be inside the house and ended with separate investigations by Cobb County police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Police said the man inside the home died by suicide after being wounded by police fire. The woman’s cause and manner of death had not been released late Sunday.
Cobb County police said officers from Precinct 4 went to a home in the 3100 block of Vandiver Drive near Rainwater Drive around 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Family members had asked police to check on the people at the residence. Officers arrived and saw a man inside, but he would not come to the door. Officer Aaron Wilson, a Cobb County police spokesman, said officers kept trying to make contact as they worked to secure a search warrant. At about 11:06 a.m., police said, officers heard a gunshot from inside the home. Police said no officer fired that shot.
The gunshot changed the call from a welfare check into a barricade response. The Cobb County Police Department’s SWAT team was called to the residential street, and officers set up a wider perimeter around the home. Police said they used a drone during the response and saw the man inside with a handgun. Crisis negotiators and SWAT officers tried to reach him by loudspeaker and other methods. Wilson said negotiators tried several ways to speak with the man, but “he refused every attempt that was made.”
Investigators said the man later fired toward officers from inside the residence. A SWAT sniper returned fire, and police said the man appeared to be wounded. Officers said a drone showed the man was still alive after the officer-involved shooting. Police continued trying to reach him, but authorities said he did not comply. The standoff continued for several more hours before the man took his own life around 4 p.m. Officers then entered the home and found two people dead inside. Police had not released the names of the man or woman Sunday night.
Authorities said the original welfare check was for the woman. Police had not said how long she had been dead, how she died or whether she was alive when officers first arrived. Officials said the man and woman knew each other, but early public updates did not give a confirmed relationship. Police also had not said what led family members to ask for the welfare check. No officers were reported injured during the standoff, and police said no one else inside the home was harmed.
Vandiver Drive sits in a residential part of East Cobb near Rainwater Drive, Sandy Plains Road and Ebenezer Road. The police response brought SWAT vehicles, marked patrol units and a large law enforcement presence to a normally quiet neighborhood for much of the day. Residents described hearing police commands over a loudspeaker and later hearing what sounded like gunfire. Dawn Anderson, who lives nearby, said her family moved to the basement after hearing shots. “We grabbed the grandchild and relocated to the basement and stayed there, sheltered in place until we got the all clear,” Anderson said.
Other neighbors said the scene was unusual for the area. Joshua Price, a nearby resident, said the neighborhood does not often see heavy police activity. Another resident said people came outside because they heard officers trying to get someone to leave the house. Anderson said she knew the family from walks in the neighborhood and described the deaths as a tragedy for relatives left behind. Police did not report any wider threat to the neighborhood after officers secured the scene.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the officer-involved shooting. That review is expected to focus on the moment the SWAT sniper fired, the threat officers faced and the sequence of gunfire during the barricade. Cobb County police said their Major Crimes Unit is conducting a separate death investigation. That inquiry is expected to address the woman’s cause and manner of death, the man’s actions before and during the standoff, and whether a final timeline can show when each person died.
Several key facts remained unknown in the first hours after the standoff. Authorities had not said whether officers had been called to the address before, whether a firearm was recovered from the home or how many total shots were fired. Police also had not said whether the woman suffered gunshot wounds or another injury. Wilson said officers made repeated attempts to end the standoff without further harm before it turned deadly.
The home on Vandiver Drive remained the center of two investigations Sunday night. The next public update is expected after investigators complete initial reports, identify the two people found dead and release more details about the woman’s death.
Author note: Last updated May 3, 2026.