Suspect in Loganville Standoff Dead

An overnight police standoff in Loganville ended with the suspect dead.

According to Chief Mike McHugh, Richard Ferri (believed to be about 41) and police exchanged gunfire at about 3 a.m. and then again at 3:30 a.m. It is believed that Ferri possibly was hit during one of those exchanges and subsequently died. McHugh said Ferri was heavily armed with a rapid-fire weapon as well as a handgun. Ferri had opened fire on police after they threw gas into the home in an attempt to flush him out. There was never a hostage situation as Ferri was alone in the home during the entire incident.

McHugh said it began at about 6:30 p.m. Friday after police were asked to make a welfare check on the home at 1205 Granite Lane in Loganville. Authorities in North Carolina contacted police after Ferri is alleged to have shot a man there yesterday before returning to Loganville. The man in North Carolina survived his injuries and was able to alert authorities that the woman in Loganville could be in danger.

“When police arrived, the wife and some children were in the back yard with the suspect,” McHugh said. “We were able to get the them away, but the man then barricaded himself inside the home.”

That’s when the 13-hour standoff began. Police evacuated the neighbors and Emergency response teams from Loganville PD and were called in.

“We also had an armored tank from WCSO and that was what was used to break through the home so we could get a camera in this morning and see the condition of the suspect,” McHugh said.

There had been some sort of communication between police and Ferri overnight and the authorities had an open line into the home. McHugh said they were able to monitor Ferri’s movements. He said eventually the movement inside ceased sometime after 4 a.m., but they had to wait for a robot from the University of Georgia this morning before making entry into the home.

“At that time we found him deceased in the bathroom,” McHugh said.

By 10 a.m. members of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrived to begin the crime scene investigation. Neighbors were evacuated from nearby homes during the standoff.

Angel Marie and her family had spent the night down the street at the home of neighbor Warren Fair and said she didn’t get any sleep. By the morning she said she just wanted to get into her home and go to bed.

“How can you sleep with this going on,” she said, adding she knew the suspect and his wife. “He was always a loner – not very sociable. I knew her better.”

Fair said he did manage to sleep some, but had heard the gunshots.

“I heard it at about 3 – 3:30 and I figured that it was probably over then,” he said.

McHugh said he was proud of the way his men and those from the WCSO had worked the situation.

“There is always good cooperation between Sheriff Joe Chapman’s men and our department. Obviously this is not the outcome you want, which is why it took so long,” McHugh said. “When there is not a hostage situation you can take longer to try to resolve it since there isn’t anyone else in immediate danger. We always hope for a different outcome to this though”

McHugh said there would be a full investigation by the GBI into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.