A 50-year old man is arrested after he broke into a bank in Sandy Springs and started a long SWAT standoff.
Tyrus Barnett tripped the alarm when he broke into the Wells Fargo Branch at 1034 Hammond Drive around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
When officers arrived they saw Barnett. He took off and eventually hid in the bank’s ceiling.
That led to a standoff with North Metro SWAT that lasted more than two hours.
"We stood and watched for a while and a couple of officers standing down there told us to get back,” Witness Jacob Lawrence told Channel 2 Action News.
Police set up a large perimeter around the bank and closed Hammond Drive between Peachtree-Dunwoody Road and Ga. 400.
About an hour into the standoff, officers installed a phone line to try to talk Barnett down. He did not answer, so SWAT and K-9 members stormed into the bank around 8 p.m.
"We started hearing glass break and stuff,” Lawrence said. “We watched four or five swat guys go in. Breaking glass and going in one by one. It was awesome."
Barnett was arrested when he fell through the ceiling and onto the bank floor.
“Who knows what he was thinking,” Sandy Springs police Lt. Steve Rose said. “He probably just retreated to any place he could. In this case it happened to be the ceiling.
Barnett was treated at Northside Hospital with a leg injury. Police are still investigating to see what Barnett’s plans were. They are not sure if he was trying to rob the bank or was waiting for employees to arrive in the morning.