A home invasion suspect is shot dead by a Gwinnett County police officer at the Woodland Ridge Apartments on Indian Trail Road Monday morning.

Police say 24-year-old Eric Andrews of Atlanta had broken in an apartment where two children ages 11 and 13 were home alone waiting for the school bus.

"They went to a neighbor and that neighbor then called police," Cpl. Ed Ritter tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

After police arrived, he says an officer confronted the suspect as he was running from the apartment.

As Andrews raised a tire iron toward the officer, the policeman fired one time killing him.

Neighbor Badia Tyler lives in the apartment above where the children live and is thankful they were not injured.

"I thank God they had the presence of mind to run... that's what we need to teach our kids," she says.